Residential Construction Spending Drops Further Off 2018 Pace

Construction spending inched up by 0.1 percent in July, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.289 trillion compared to $1.288 trillion in June.  The July figure is 2.7 percent lower than the rate of spending in July 2018.

On an unadjusted basis, spending for the month was $119.214 billion and for the year-to-date (YTD) stands at $733.782 billion,, down 2.1 percent from the $749.888 billion spent during the first seven months of 2018.

Private sector spending was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $963.139 billion, down 0.1 percent from June and 4.8 percent lower than expenditures in July 2018.  For the month, private sector spending totaled $86.812 billion on a non-adjusted basis.  YTD the private sector has spent $554.108, a 4.4 percent decrease from the same period last year.

Private sector spending on residential spending was at an annual rate of $506.743 billion compared to $503.515 billion in June, an increase of 0.6 percent but down 6.6 percent from the prior July.  Single family construction was at a rate of $268.138 billion a 1.4 percent month-over-month gain but a decrease of 8.5 percent on an annual basis.  For the YTD, total residential spending has totaled $289.891 billion, $150.219 billion of it on single-family houses.  During the same period in 2018 the respective totals were $316.929 billion and $164.529 billion.  These represent declines of 8.5 and 8.7 percent.  Multifamily spending YTD is up 6.6 percent at $36.414 billion.

In July the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $325.7 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised June estimate of $324.3 billion.  Monthly spending was $32.402 billion bringing the YTD spending to 179.674 billion, a 5.6 percent increase from the same period in 2018.  Residential spending was at a seasonally adjusted $6.035 billion pace, down 0.1 percent month-over-month and dropping 12.1 percent on an annual basis.