Construction spending during March 2019 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,282.2 billion, -0.9% below the revised February estimate of $1,293.3 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The March figure is -0.8% below the March 2018 estimate of $1,293.1 billion. During the first three months of this year, construction spending amounted to $277.7 billion, -0.2% below the $278.3 billion for the same period in 2018.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $961.5 billion, -0.7% below the revised February estimate of $968.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $500.9 billion in March, -1.8% below the revised February estimate of $510.1 billion. In March, both new single-family construction and multi-family construction were running at -8.4% and -8.2%, respectively, behind March 2018’s value of new construction.
Public construction. In March, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $320.7 billion, -1.3% below the revised February estimate of $324.7 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $76.6 billion, -1.5% below the revised February estimate of $77.8 billion.
Although overall March spending on public education facilities showed a decline, some niches within educational construction showed some solid year-over-year increases, including elementary schools (+7.8%); high schools (+13.4%); college dormitories (+16.3%); and library/archive (+46.4%).
