The U.S. Census Bureau said construction spending during Oct. 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,172.6 billion, 0.5% above the revised September estimate of $1,166.5 billion. The October figure is 3.4% above the Oct. 2015 estimate of $1,134.4 billion. During the first 10 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $972.2 billion, 4.5% above the $930.7 billion for the same period in 2015.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $885.9 billion, 0.2% below the revised September estimate of $887.4 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $466.2 billion in October, 1.6% above the revised September estimate of $458.8 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $419.6 billion in October, 2.1% below the revised September estimate of $428.6 billion.
Two of the largest private construction segments showed the most growth year-over-year (YOY). Multi-family construction was up 11.4% YOY to $63.7 billion and office construction was up 28.4% YOY to $62.7 billion. Another large category, private health care construction, showed some steady if unspectacular YOY growth, up 2.2% from Oct. 2015 to $32.6 billion.
Public construction. In October, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $286.8 billion, 2.8% above the revised September estimate of $279.1 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $72.2 billion, 4.1% above the revised September estimate of $69.4 billion and up 11.7% YOY.
