It seems the entire world is eager to turn the page on 2020. As COVID-19 continues to spike and a vaccine not expected to be widely available to the general public until the second quarter of next year, how quickly that page turns remains anyone's guess. One thing is for certain though—the lingering effects of the global pandemic will continue to plague South Florida's construction market. In particular, we can expect a continued downturn in commercial office construction deep into 2021.

In response to the pandemic in early March of this year, Florida, like most states, issued a stay-at-home order. Construction sites, however, were deemed an essential service and were allowed to remain open. Seizing on the shutdown, as traffic slowed, Florida transportation construction projects sped up. According to Gov. Ron DeSantis, this aggressive approach saved an aggregate of 650 calendar day of construction.

Keeping construction sites open benefited the residential market as well.  In fact, residential construction in Miami shrunk by less than 2% compared to 2019. With ultra-low residential mortgage interest rates, a hot seller's market and millions of people continuing to work remotely from home, we expect the residential construction market to regain strength and carry the construction industry into 2021.