April’s Value of New Construction Lags March by -1.4% But Enjoys +6.7% YOY Boost

The latest Value of New Construction report from the U.S. Commerce Dept. said construction spending during April 2017 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,218.5 billion, -1.4% below the revised March estimate of $1,235.5 billion.

The April figure is +6.7% above the April 2016 estimate of $1,142.5 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $359.5 billion, +5.8% above the $339.7 billion for the same period in 2016.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $943.3 billion, 0.7% below the revised March estimate of $949.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $516.7 billion in April, -0.7% below the revised March estimate of $520.4 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $426.6 billion in April, -0.6% below the revised March estimate of $429.3 billion.
Private office construction and religious construction was the only  major category with an increase of more than 1%. Office construction was up 1.7% to $64.8 billion. Religious construction showed the largest monthly declines with a -3.8% decrease to $3.3 billion.

Public construction. In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275.3 billion, -3.7% below the revised March estimate of $285.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $70.7 billion,- 2% below the revised March estimate of $72.2 billion.