Residential construction has been making a tepid comeback in recent months; how did March play into that narrative?

Let’s put it this way – March was both a rather disappointing month for residential construction in the Miami area, according to the latest numbers that McGraw Hill Construction provided us.

At $256 million, the area’s total residential construction spending was in line with other major metro housing markets, but when you compare that number to past data sets, the situation gets really complicated real quick.

By year-to-date measures, Miami’s residential construction has posted a moderate decline of 12 percent; year-over-year, though, construction is down 30 percent, which is actually the second largest of the major metro markets.

However, such fluctuations are not entirely surprising. Considering that the current new construction markets are primarily led by multifamily construction – which is notoriously erratic – those numbers actually make sense. Consider Miami’s construction spending from January to March: $293 million, $472 million and $256 million. It wouldn’t be surprising if April’s numbers offer a similar jump.

To get a better idea of how Miami stacked up with the rest of the nation, check out our graphs below: