Construction spending during Feb. 2019 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,320.3 billion, +1% above the revised January estimate of $1,307.3 billion, according to the US. Census Bureau. The February figure is +1.1% above the Feb. 2018 estimate of $1,305.5 billion. During the first two months of this year, construction spending amounted to $181.9 billion, +1.4% above the $179.4 billion for the same period in 2018.
Private construction. Spending on private construction in February was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $994.5 billion, +0.2% above the revised January estimate of $993 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $540.9 billion in February, +0.7% above the revised January estimate of $536.9 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $453.6 billion in February, -0.5% below the revised January estimate of $456.0 billion.
The -0.8% monthly and -6.6% annual decrease in Private Commercial construction appears to be due largely to several double-digit declines in the retail segment, where the automotive (-18.5% YOY) and shopping center (-33.8% YOY) and shopping mall (-28.6% YOY) categories were particularly weak.
Public construction. In February, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $325.8 billion, +3.6% above the revised January estimate of $314.4 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $76.3 billion, +0.8% above the revised January estimate of $75.7 billion.
