South Florida construction starts fall in November

South Florida construction starts dropped in November, both year-over-year and month-over-month, according to a recently released report.

Total building in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties dropped 30 percent, year-over-year, to $854 million last month, according to Dodge Data & Analytics, a Hamilton, New Jersey-based construction data analytics firm.

Starts also fell 11 percent, compared to October. They were lower than starts reported for August, but November’s starts exceeded those reported for June, May and March.

Nonresidential construction starts represented most of the total new building for November. Still, $475 million in nonresidential construction starts lagged November 2019 by 22 percent. Residential construction fell 38 percent, year-over-year, to $380 million.

Nonresidential construction includes office, retail, hotels, warehouses, manufacturing, educational, healthcare, religious, government, recreational, and other buildings. Residential construction includes single-family homes and multifamily housing, according to Dodge.

Year-to-date, total construction starts dropped 27 percent to $8.8 billion. Residential construction fell 21 percent to $4.9 billion, and nonresidential fell 33 percent to $3.9 billion.

Proposed projects in South Florida that scored construction loans last month include a partnership of two local developers that received a $15.3 million construction loan to build 30 luxury townhouses near South Miami; and Key International and Integra Investments securing a $42.6 million construction loan from Bank OZK for a luxury condo project in eastern Boca Raton.