Spending on total private residential construction and new single-family construction increased in September, albeit slightly, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Commerce Tuesday morning. The result reflects the employment growth and builders’ upbeat outlook for the same month that BUILDER reported earlier.
Spending on private residential construction rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $453.7 billion in September, 0.5% up from the upward-revised rate of $451.3 billion in August and also beat the reading of $449.7 billion a year ago in September 2015. Spending in the private residential construction sector has been trending up gradually during the past six years–after falling to a low of $230.5 billion in May 2009–but it remains well below the pre-crisis peak level of $678.0 billion reached in February 2006.
New single-family construction spending closed September with a $236.6 billion, up 0.1% month-over-month, but is -2.9% lower year-over-year. Spending on new multifamily construction continued to see an impressive improvement of 2% month-over-month, and 9.1% year-over-year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $62.1 billion. The multifamily sector has been on a steady upward streak since the year 2011.
The overall construction industry (including total private construction and total public construction), however, decreased for a second month in a row to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.150 trillion in September, -0.4% below the revised rate of $1.154 trillion in August. On the other hand, total residential construction (including both private and public) spending this September climbed 0.4% month-over-month, and up 0.6% compared to September 2015.
Read the full Value of Construction Put in Place Survey release here>>
