Construction spending rebounded in February after two months of decline, the Commerce Department said Monday, and for the month was at its highest rate since April, 2006.
Total spending clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,192.8 billion, 0.8% above the revised January estimate of $1,183.8 billion. The February figure is 3.0% above the February 2016 estimate of $1,157.7 billion. During the first 2 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $163.3 billion, 3.0% above the $158.5 billion for the same period in 2016.
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $917.3 billion, 0.8% above the revised January estimate of $910.0 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $484.7 billion in February, 1.8% above the revised January estimate of $476.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $432.7 billion in February, 0.3% below the revised January estimate of $433.8 billion.
The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275.5 billion, 0.6 percent (±1.8 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $273.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $71.7 billion, 0.5 percent (±2.1 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $71.3 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $88.9 billion, 1.3 percent (±5.6 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $87.7 billion.
