Construction spending in South Florida totaled $10.9 billion in 2016, marking a 3 percent increase from the previous year, according to the latest report from Dodge Data & Analytics.
The tri-county region was on track to outspend the previous year, and it did despite a very slow December. During the last month of the year, new construction starts fell by 39 percent compared to December of 2015, from $1.5 billion to $917.7 million.
Nonresidential construction, which includes everything from hotels to government buildings, fell by a whopping 64 percent in December 2016, from $840.1 million in 2015 to just under $300 million.
Month-to-month spending can be volatile. November also saw a big drop in the number of new contracts signed compared to the same period in 2015.
On a cumulative, year-over-year basis, there was less construction spending in the commercial sector, down 4 percent from $3.94 billion in 2015 to $3.78 billion in 2016. Residential, meanwhile, was up 7 percent. Residential construction starts hit $7.13 billion in 2016, compared to $6.68 billion in 2015. – Katherine Kallergis