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$942.5 Billion in Value of New Construction Shows Nice YTY Gain of 8.4% through March

May 9, 2014

The U.S. Census Bureau said construction spending during March 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $942.5 billion, 0.2% above the revised February estimate of $940.8 billion. The March figure is 8.4% above the March 2013 estimate of $869.2 billion. During the first three months of this year, construction spending amounted to $196.6 billion, 8.3% above the $181.6 billion for the same period in 2013.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $679.6 billion, 0.5% above the revised February estimate of $676.3 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $369.8 billion in March, 0.8% above the revised February estimate of $367 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $309.8 billion in March, 0.2% above the revised February estimate of $309.3 billion. The private construction category is home to the most promising economic indicators. Overall, it’s up 12.5% year-over-year to $679.6 billion, and multi-family residential and office construction are showing some real strength in their year-over-year data.  New housing with five or more units was up 4.4% in March to  $39.1 billion and  32.5% over March 2013.  New private office construction  was up 13.5% YTY to $34 billion in March. 

Public construction. In March, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $262.9 billion, 0.6% below the revised February estimate of $264.5 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $58.4 billion, 2.3% below the revised February estimate of $59.8 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $84.0 billion, 0.5% above the revised February estimate of $83.6 billion.