Value of New Construction Sags Marginally in September But Remains Up 4.4% YOY

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during Sept. 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,150 billion, 0.4% below the revised August estimate of $1,154.4 billion. The September figure is 0.2% below the September 2015 estimate of $1,152.1 billion. During the first nine months of this year, construction spending amounted to $863.2 billion, 4.4% above the $826.8 billion for the same period in 2015.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $879.7 billion, 0.2% below the revised August estimate of $881.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $453.7 billion in September, 0.5% above the revised August estimate of $451.3 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $426 billion in September, 1% below the revised August estimate of $430.2 billion.

Office construction, which is up 27.2% year-over-year, took a breather in September with a -0.4% decline to $63.1 billion. Multi-family construction, which had been a hot spot for private construction, was up  2% to $62 billion and is still turning in strong YOY performance figures, tracking at a 9.1% increase over Sept. 2015.

Public construction. In September, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $270.3 billion, 0.9% below the revised August estimate of $272.8 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $66.6 billion, 1.1% below the revised August estimate of $67.4 billion.