Residential Construction Spending Continues to Rise

Construction spending dipped slightly in March, although privately funded spending held its ground and residential construction activity was at a higher pace than in February.  The U.S. Census Bureau said on Monday that construction of all types was put in place at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.22 trillion in March, down 0.2 percent from February but 3.6 percent higher than the estimate of $1.18 trillion in March 2016.

On a non-adjusted basis spending during the month totaled $92.945billion, up from 84.00 billion in February.  Spending for the year-to-date through the end of March ran 4.9 percent higher than for the same period in 2016.

Privately funded construction was at an annual rate of $940.21 billion, essentially unchanged from February, but up 7.0 percent from March 2016.  On a non-adjusted basis, the private sector spent $73.91 billion compared to $66.35 billion the previous month.  Year-to-date spending through March was 8.4 percent higher than last year.

Privately funded residential construction rose 1.2 percent from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $503.43 billion and was 7.5 percent higher than a year earlier.  On a non-adjusted basis, the outlay was $39.53 billion compared to $33.17 billion in February.  Year-to-date spending is $105.73 billion, up 8.7 percent from the same period in 2016.

Single family construction spending rose 0.3 percent month-over-month and 7.5 percent on an annual basis to a rate of $258.48 billion. Unadjusted spending totaled $20.09 billion for the month and was running 3.9 percent ahead of last year through the end of March.  Multi-family construction spending was at an annual rate of $66.08 billion, 2.0 percent higher than in February and 7.4 percent higher than in March 2016.

Total publicly funded construction was at an annual rate of $278.08 billion, down 0.9 percent for the month and 6.5 percent behind the rate in March 2016.