Residential Construction Spending Surged in January

Privately funded construction gained 1.5 percent month-over-month, from a seasonally adjusted $1.008 trillion in December to $1.023 trillion in January. This was a 4.9 percent increase from the previous January. On a non-adjusted basis spending fell from $78.259 billion to $73.248 billion.

Privately funding spending on residential construction was especially strong, rising from December by 2.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to $554.785 and by 9.0 percent compared to the previous January. Single-family construction spending gained 2.8 percent and 9.6 percent compared to the two earlier periods to an annual rate of $298,787 billion. Multifamily spending was flat for the month at $57.253 billion and down 8.3 percent on an annual basis.

The non-adjusted spending on all residential construction was $37.472 billion, down from $39.627 billion in December, but 5.3 percent higher than in January 2019. Single-family spending also fell, from $21.439 billion the previous month to $20.606 billion in January but was more than 10 percent higher than in January 2019. Multifamily spending fell 9.7 percent year-over-year.

Publicly funded construction spending rose 2.6 percent for the month to a rate of $346.486 billion, a year over year gain of 12.6 spending. Residential spending ticked up a half point from December to a $7.488 billion pace and was 29 percent higher year-over-year.