Construction Up 2.7 Percent over March as Private and Public Sectors Gain Ground

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during April 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $869.1 billion, 2.7 percent above the revised March estimate of $845.9 billion. The April figure is 10.5 percent below the April 2009 estimate of $971.4 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $249.6 billion, 13.2 percent below the $287.5 billion for the same period in 2009.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $565.8 billion, 2.9 percent above the revised March estimate of $549.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $263.0 billion in April, 4.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $251.9 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $302.7 billion in April, 1.7 percent above the revised March estimate of $297.8 billion.

Public construction

In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $303.3 billion, 2.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $296.2 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.7 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $74.4 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — April 2010

Value of Construction Put-in-Place ($ billions, seasonally adjusted annual rate)

Type of Construction:Apr 2010₁Mar 2010₂Mo. % changeApr 2009YTY % changeTotal Construction 869.1 845.9 2.7 971.4 -10.5 Total Private Construction ₁ 565.8 549.7 2.9 654.1 -13.5 Residential 272.2 260.6 4.5 260.3 4.6 New single family 122.7 118.6 3.4 95.1 29 New multi-family 15.2 15.5 -1.9 35.6 -57.4 Lodging 12.2 12.1 1.1 30.3 -59.7 Office 41.5 41.4 0.2 58.8 -29.4 Commercial 41.6 43.0 -3.3 65.8 -36.8 Health care 42.0 41.7 0.7 48.1 -12.7 Educational 89.2 89.5 -0.3 108.0 -17.4 Religious 6.0 5.9 1.5 6.9 -12.8 Public safety 12.3 12.9 -4.7 14.2 -13.1 Amusement and recreation 16.6 15.6 6.7 19.9 -16.7 Transportation 38.7 38.8 -0.1 32.9 17.7 Communication 18.6 17.3 7.3 21.2 -12.4 Power 87.7 83.9 4.5 92.1 -4.8 Electric 54.9 51.3 7.2 54.9 0.2 Highway and street 84.4 81.4 3.6 80.4 5 Sewage and waste disposal 25.6 24.8 3.5 26.0 -1.3 Water supply 15.7 14.5 8 16.0 -2.2 Conservation and development 6.4 5.8 9.5 5.8 10.4 Manufacturing 58.4 56.7 2.9 84.7 -31.1 Total Public Construction ₂ 303,300 296,241 2.4 317,237 -4.4 Residential 9,141 8,672 5.4 7,643 19.6 Office 13,703 13,149 4.2 15,036 -8.9 Commercial 2,442 2,711 -9.9 3,687 -33.8 Health care 9,221 9,330 -1.2 9,222 0.0 Educational 74,740 74,433 0.4 90,668 -17.6 Public safety 11,874 12,399 -4.2 13,795 -13.9 Amusement and recreation 10,390 9,381 10.8 11,083 -6.3 Transportation 30,290 30,303 0.0 23,463 29.1 Power 9,320 9,407 -0.9 14,863 -37.3 Highway and street 84,282 81,316 3.6 80,168 5.1 Sewage and waste disposal 25,171 24,235 3.9 25,461 -1.1 Water supply 15,352 14,229 7.9 15,693 -2.2 Conservation and development 6,373 5,816 9.6 5,759 10.7

1-Preliminary; 2-Revised

Note: The U.S. Census department changed its construction categories beginning with its May 2003 statistics. With the changes in the project classifications, data now presented are not directly comparable with those data previously published in the regular-format press releases and tables. Direct comparisons can only be made at the total, total private, total state and local, total federal, and total public levels for annual and not seasonally adjusted monthly data. For more information, check out http://www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html.