New home starts continue to fall through the first quarter of 2017 as the Miami market deals with an excess of unsold inventory, according to the newest numbers released by Dodge Data & Analytics.
Housing construction in March fell by 39 percent over March 2016, as $529.5 million was spent on new home construction last month versus $887.3 million in March 2016, according to Dodge. Home construction fell much farther than nonresidential construction, which dropped 3 percent in March versus the same time last year.
Year-to-year comparisons show a similar trend in less home construction. Home construction dropped 38 percent year-over-year in March. It was enough to drag down the entire construction market; nonresidential starts jumped 16 percent but total building fell 18 percent, according to Dodge.
A cooling of new construction may not be a bad thing for Miami, where the historic inventory levels are causing some to label the market as distressed. In fact, some see the construction slowdown as a correction for years of overbuilding.
“We’ve definitely built a lot in Miami. Maybe a little more than we need at the current moment,” Henry Torres, CEO of the Astor Companies, told Miami Agent. “I think we’re at a slowdown of construction but not a slowdown of sales.”
| 2017 | 2016 | Percent change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential (March) | $529,527,000 | $867,383,000 | -39 |
| Nonresidential (March) | $647,138,000 | $668,763,000 | -3 |
| Total building | $1,176,665,000 | $,536,146,000 | -23 |
| Year-to-date | |||
| Residential | $1,268,349,000 | $2,035,002,000 | -38 |
| Nonresidential | $1,363,156,000 | $1,179,631,000 | 16 |
| Total building | $2,631,505,000 | $3,214,633,000 | -18 |