Construction Spending up 1.1% YoY, Private Sector Losing Momentum

The nation's total spending on construction projects was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.291 trillion in October, 1.1 percent higher than a year earlier, but down 0.8 percent from the seasonally adjusted total in September of $1.301 trillion. On a non-adjusted basis there was $115.501 billion spent during the month.  For the year-to-date (YTD), expenditures have totaled $1.086 trillion, 1.7 percent less than the $1.105 trillion in outlays during the first 10 months of 2018. 

Private sector spending is dragging on overall spending. The seasonally adjusted annual rate for the sector's spending was $956.272 billion in October, down 1.0 percent from September's $966.135 billion and 1.8 percent lower than the $973.700 billion rate in October 2018. Spending during the month was $84.234 billion and totals $808.706 billion thus far in 2019.  This is a 4.2 percent decline from spending in the same period a year earlier, $843.979 billion.

Private sector residential spending also fell, down 0.9 percent compared to September's seasonally adjusted rate of $512.634 billion at $508.198 billion but it was up 0.5 percent compared to October 2018.  Residential spending for the month was $45.064 billion and has reached $426.372 billion for the year, a decline of 7.1 percent from the $459.004 spent during the same period in 2018.

Single-family spending is faring even worse.  While it was up from the previous month by 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of $279.080 billion, it fell 3.1 percent compared to a year earlier and is down 7.5 percent on a YTD basis.  The months spending was $25.408 billion bringing spending so far this year to $226.333 billion.  Spending on single-family homes had reached $244.654 billion at this point in 2018.

Multifamily construction was also lower in October at an annual rate of $59.466 billion, down 1.6 percent from September and 2.1 percent from a year earlier. However, so far this year multifamily construction has consumed $51.997 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent from YTD 2018.

Spending on publicly funded projects  was down 0.2 percent from the prior month at a rate of $334.797 billion but was jumped by 10.2 percent compared to October 2018. YTD spending has increased from $261.265 billion to $277.829 billion, a gain of 6.3 percent.  Residential spending in the public sector is up 1.2 percent from the prior October but is 5.5 percent lower YTD at $5.269 billion.