Construction spending during October 2018 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,308.8 billion, -0.1% below the revised September estimate of $1,310.8 billion, according to the U.S. Commerce Dept. The October figure is +4.9% above the Oct. 2017 estimate of $1,247.5 billion. During the first ten months of this year, total construction spending in the United States amounted to $1,096.4 billion, +5.1% above the $1,043.6 billion for the same period in 2017.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $998.7 billion, -0.4% below the revised September estimate of $1,003 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $539 billion in October, -0.5% below the revised September estimate of $541.7 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $459.7 billion in October, -0.3% below the revised September estimate of $461.3 billion. Office construction, one of the largest segments of private construction, was up +16.3% in October YOY at $66,436 million.
Public construction. In October, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $310.2 billion, +0.8% above the revised September estimate of $307.8 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $76.9 billion, +2.6% above the revised September estimate of $70 billion and +9.2% over Oct. 2017. At $9,516 million, public health-care construction was up +3% over September but was down -1.8% YOY.
