Spending on total private residential construction and new single-family construction increased in October, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Commerce Thursday morning.
Spending on private residential construction rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $466.2 billion in October, 1.6% up from the upward-revised rate of $458.7 billion in September. Spending last month also outpaced spending in October 2015 by 4.7%, when private residential construction spending was $445.3 billion. Spending in the private residential construction sector has been trending up but remains well below the pre-crisis peak level of $678.0 billion reached in February 2006.
New single-family construction increased in October to $243.4 billion, up 2.8% from September’s $236.8 billion. However, single-family construction spending is down -1.8% from October 2015, when the rate was $247.4 billion. Spending on new multifamily construction continued to grow at an impressive rate, increasing 2.8% month-over-month, and 11.4% year-over-year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $63.6 billion. The multifamily sector has been on a steady upward streak since the year 2011.
Following two months of decline, the overall construction industry (including total private construction and total public construction) also increased in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.172 trillion, 0.5% up from the revised rate of $1.166 trillion in September. Total residential construction (including both private and public) spending also increased 1.8% month-over-month to $472.9 billion, marking a 4.6% increase year-over-year.
Read the full Value of Construction Put in Place Survey release here>>
