It was a tale of two markets for January’s construction activity in South Florida.
Residential construction starts jumped in January, year-over-year, while non-residential construction starts dropped slightly across the region, according to a new report from Dodge Data & Analytics.
Nonresidential starts fell 8 percent to $344.3 million, while residential starts rose to 72 percent to $766 million, Dodge reported. In the report, nonresidential includes office, retail, hotels, and warehouses, while residential includes housing and apartments.
In total, new construction in South Florida totaled $1.1 billion, up 36 percent from January 2019.
The housing market has taken off in recent months due to lower mortgage rates. This week, S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report on home prices reported a 3.8 percent annual gain in December, up from 3.5 percent in the previous month.
Construction of multifamily projects is surging in South Florida, while fewer new condo projects are breaking ground amid waning demand from foreign investors and concerns about oversupply in some parts of Miami, although demand has risen from buyers from high-tax states.