South Florida resi construction starts soar in March

South Florida residential construction starts soared in March, but commercial starts took a slight hit, according to a newly released report.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties’ residential starts soared 40 percent in March, year-over-year, reaching $461 million, according to Dodge Data & Analytics, a Hamilton, New Jersey-based construction data analytics firm.

Commercial construction starts fell 2 percent to $306 million.

Overall, total construction starts rose 20 percent, year-over-year, to $767 million, the report shows.

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 5 percent to $2.7 billion, compared to the same period of last year. Residential starts dropped 8 percent to $1.7 billion, and commercial starts fell 1 percent to $1 billion.

For February, Dodge reported that South Florida commercial starts surged, but residential ones fell. Commercial starts increased 12 percent, year-over-year, to $433 million, while residential starts declined by 41 percent to $423 million.

The swell in residential construction starts in March reflects that South Florida’s housing market is experiencing a boom. The luxury market is doing especially well, as Northeasterners and other out-of-state buyers scoop up waterfront, multimillion-dollar mansions.