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SoFla construction starts plummet in January
Total construction starts fell 45% year-over-year
South Florida construction starts in January plummeted year-over-year, with steep declines in both residential and commercial sectors, a recently released report shows.
Total construction starts fell 45 percent to $640.8 million in January. Residential construction dropped by 55 percent to $333.2 million, while non-residential construction dipped by 28 percent to $307.6 million, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.
The difficult start of the year is a continuation of the decline in residential construction in December, reflecting a slowdown in new condominium construction.
In 2018, South Florida’s overall construction topped $12.7 billion, up 15 percent from $11.1 billion in 2017. Commercial construction starts reached nearly $6 billion, up 5 percent over the previous year, while residential construction starts topped $6.8 billion, up 25 percent.
In December, total construction rose 29 percent to $495.3 million, compared to $274.5 million in December 2017. The increase was due to a boost in commercial construction starts, up 80 percent to $495.3 million. Residential starts totaled $289.2 million, down 13 percent from December 2017, according to the report.
Dodge Data defines non-residential as office, retail, hotels, warehouses, manufacturing, educational, healthcare, religious, government, recreational and other buildings. Residential includes single-family and multifamily housing.
In Miami-Dade, last year’s industrial construction boom is expected to dip in 2019. The cost of land acquisitions and construction is becoming too expensive for developers to consider new projects and rezoning of industrial properties into retail and office uses is also limiting development, according to the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida’s annual industrial market report.