Construction spending during April 2018 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,310.4 billion, +1.8% above the revised March estimate of $1,286.8 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The April figure is +7.6% above the April 2017 estimate of $1,217.7 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $387 billion, +6.6% above the $363.1 billion for the same period in 2017.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,014.3 billion, +2.8% above the revised March estimate of $986.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $556.3 billion in April, +4.5% above the revised March estimate of $532.4 billion and +9.5% onver April 2017. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $458 billion in April, +0.8% percent above the revised March estimate of $454.2 billion.
Public construction. In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $296.1 billion, -1.3% below the revised March estimate of $300.1 billion. While Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.2 billion, nearly the same as the revised March estimate of $74.2 billion, it’s up 8.2% over April 2018.
The Transportation category, which covers public mass transit projects and other large jobs, was also down for the month, with a -4.4% increase, but showed good year-over-year growth with a +13.4% increase.
