The U.S. Department of Commerce said construction spending during May 2017 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,230.1 billion, nearly the same as the revised April estimate of $1,230.4 billion. The May figure is 4.5% above the May 2016 estimate of $1,177 billion. During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $469.2 billion, 6.1% above the $442.4 billion for the same period in 2016.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $943.2 billion, 0.6% below the revised April estimate of $949.3 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $509.6 billion in May, 0.6% below the revised April estimate of $512.7 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $433.6 billion in May, 0.7% below the revised April estimate of $436.7 billion.
With its 15.9% YOY increase, office construction remains the star in the private construction category, with the construction of financial office particularly strong at $2.25 billion (+28.2%). Manufacturing is quite weak, down -10.7% YOY in May. Many industrial segments are doing far worse than that, with the construction of facilities in the plastic/rubber, nonmetallic mineral, fabricated metal and transportation equipment getting whacked with more severe double-digit declines.
Public construction. In May, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $286.9 billion, 2.1% percent above the revised April estimate of $281 billion.