Multi-family Spending only Bright Spot in Construction News

Overall construction spending in the U.S. was essentially unchanged from January to February and there was only slight movement in both public and private sector spending.  There was, however, a considerable increase in spending on private multi-family residential construction.  

The U.S. Census Bureau said today that construction put in place in February was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $967.2 billion, down 0.1 percent from January's estimate of 967.9 billion.  The February 2015 number was 2.1 percent higher than the annual rate of $947.1 billion estimated for a year earlier.

Residential spending was also down 0.1 percent from the previous month to an annual rate of $355.6 billion which was 1.9 percent lower than the $362.3 billion spending rate in February 2014. 

On a non-adjusted basis total construction spending totaled was estimated at $65.8 billion during the month compared to $67.0 billion in January and residential spending dropped from $24.1 billion to $23.3 billion.  During the first two months of the year spending on all construction was up 2.0 percent from the same time period in 2014 to $130.3 billion and residential spending dropped 0.8 percent to $47.4 billion.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $698.2 billion, a 0.2 percent increase from the spending pace in January of $696.9 billion and 1.8 percent above the February 2014 estimate of $686.2 billion.

Residential spending in the private sector was at a rate of 349.9 billion, 0.2 percent lower than the estimated $350.5 billion a month earlier and a -2.1 percent change from February 2014.  New single-family construction increased 9.7 percent from February 2014 at $203.9 billion but lagged the January estimate by 0.2 percent.  Multi-family residential construction spending rose 4.1 percent month-over-month to a rate of $50.9 billion and was 31.5 percent above its level in February 2014.   

On a non-adjusted basis total spending in the private sector in February is estimated at $49.0 billion, and residential spending at $22.9 billion compared to $49.9 billion and $23.7 billion in January.  Year-to-date total construction spending is up 1.7 percent from the same period last year to $98.9 billion and residential year-to-date spending decreased 1.0 percent to $46.6 billion.  Spending on multi-family construction in the first two months of the year jumped 29.7 percent from a year earlier to $7.6 billion.

Publically funded construction in February was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $268.9 billion, 0.8 percent below the revised $271.0 billion rate in February but up 3.1 percent from the rate in February 2014.  Residential spending increased 3.4 percent on a monthly and 13.9 percent on an annual basis to a rate of $5.8 billion.