Construction Spending Flat; Residential Sector Slightly Less so

There was a small increase in both publicly and privately funded construction spending in August.  Privately funded residential spending performed slightly better than construction as a whole but that increase was largely due to an uptick in multi-family construction expenditures.

The U.S. Census Bureau said today that total construction spending in the U.S. was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,086.2 billion in August, an increase of 0.7 percent above the revised July estimate of $1,079.1 billion and up 13.7 percent from August 2014 when the estimate was $955.0 billion.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis $100.9 billion was spent overall in August compared to $98.4 billion in July.  Through the end of August total 2015 construction spending is estimated at $683.4 billion, up 9.8 percent from the same year-to-date period in 2014.

Private construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $788.0 billion, also a 0.7 percent increase from July when the rate was $782.3 billion and 16.5 percent higher than in August 2014.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis private spending was estimated at $70.5 billion compared to $69.2 billion in July.  Year-to-date private spending of $495.5 billion is 11.4 percent higher than the number for the same period last year.

Privately funded residential spending made up almost all of the total residential spending and was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $383.3 billion in August.  This is an increase of 1.3 percent from July and 16.1 percent from August 2014.  New single-family construction was at a rate of $218.8 billion, a month over month gain of 0.7 percent and 14.0 percent year-over-year.  Spending for new multi-family construction, at $53.5 billion, rose 4.8 percent and 24.7 percent from the two earlier periods.

Non-adjusted residential spending during the month was $35.7 billion, $20.6 billion of which was for new single-family units.  Year-to-date private spending through August was $140.0 billion, up 14.0 percent over 2014 while multifamily construction was up 24.8 percent.

Total public construction rose 0.5 percent from July to $298.2 billion, 7.0 percent higher than in August 2014.  Publicly funded residential spending was up 3.5 percent month over month and 32.9 percent year over year but the number was still a relatively negligible $6.7 billion on an annualized basis.