Residential Construction Spending Ends Summer on Flat Note

The Census Bureau released a combined report on the Value of Construction Put in Place for both September and October on Monday.  A full September report was not issued either now or when scheduled in October because of the government shutdown.

Total construction activity for September was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $901.2 billion compared to $903.8 billion in August, a -0.3 percent change.  Residential construction value, which came almost totally from the private sector, was $334.49 billion compared to $329.66 billion in August.

Total construction spending in October was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $908.45 billion, an increase of 0.8 percent from September and 5.3 percent higher than one year earlier.  Residential construction was at a rate of $332.89 billion, down 0.5 percent from September but 17.4 percent higher than in October 2012. 

Of the total annualized residential construction put in place, $326.86 billion was spent by the private sector, representing more than half of all private construction dollars.  Private residential spending was 0.6 percent below that of September but was 17.8 percent higher than a year earlier.

Public spending on residential construction was $6.02 billion, up 4.6 percent from September's annualized figure of $5.75 billion and 1.0 percent lower than the 6.08 billion pace in October 2012.

On a non-adjusted basis total construction in October was $83.57 billion of which $31.25 billion was residential, increases of 5.0 percent and 16.6 percent from one year earlier.  Residential construction consumed $30.74 billion of the total private sector expenditures of $57.21 billion.  Total private construction spending increased 8.8 percent year-over-year and residential 17.0 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

Public sector residential spending totaled $510 million in October.  This was a 3.4 percent decrease from October 2012.