The U.S. Department of Commerce said construction spending in Nov. 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $934.4 billion, 1% above the revised October estimate of $925.1 billion. The November figure is 5.9% above the Nov. 2012 estimate of $882.7 billion. During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $828.4 billion, 5% above the $788.8 billion for the same period in 2012.
The 2013 increase in residential construction is well-documented and homebuilders kept pace again in November, with private residential construction up 16% for the first eleven months of the year. But several other niches in the private construction segment are also tracking well. At a $52.39 billion seasonally adjusted annual rate through November, commercial construction is up 20.7% over Nov. 2012, and over the same time period construction of private manufacturing facilities was up 15.6% to $54.58 billion.
Public construction. In November, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275 billion, 1.8% below the revised October estimate of $280.2 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $65.2 billion, 1.1% above the revised October estimate of $64.4 billion.