Value of New Construction Enjoys 1.5% Increase to $816.4 Billion in December

The U.S. Census Bureau said construction spending during Dec. 2011 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $816.4 billion, 1.5 percent above the revised November estimate of $804 billion. The December figure is 4.3 percent above the Dec. 2010 estimate of $782.9 billion. The value of construction in 2011 was $787.4 billion, two percent below the $803.6 billion spent in 2010.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $529.7 billion, 2.1 percent above the revised November estimate of $518.8 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $241.2 billion in December, 0.8 percent above the revised November estimate of $239.4 billion. The value of private construction in 2011 was $504.1 billion, 0.7 percent above the $500.6 billion spent in 2010. Residential construction in 2011 was $236.2 billion, 1.1 percent below the 2010 figure of $238.8 billion and nonresidential construction was $268 billion, 2.4 percent above the $261.8 billion in 2010.

Public construction

In December, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $286.6 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised November estimate of $285.3 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $70.6 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised November estimate of $71.1 billion. The value of public construction in 2011 was $283.3 billion, 6.5 percent below the $303 billion spent in 2010. Educational construction in 2011 was $70.9 billion, 5.3 percent below the 2010 figure of $74.9 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — December 2011

Value of Construction Put-in-Place ($ billions, seasonally adjusted annual rate)

Dec. '11₁ Nov. '11₂ Mo. % Change Dec. '10 YTY % Change Total Construction 816.4 804.0 1.5 782.9 4.3 Total Private Construction 529.7 518.8 2.1 489.0 8.3 Residential 241.2 239.4 0.8 230.0 4.9 New single family 111.0 109.3 1.5 107.0 3.7 New multi-family 16.1 16.1 -0.3 13.5 18.8 Lodging 7.8 7.9 -1.8 9.2 -15.4 Office 22.8 22.9 -0.5 22.9 -0.7 Commercial 40.4 40.3 0.1 35.5 13.6 Health care 29.5 28.9 1.8 30.3 -2.7 Educational 15.0 15.0 0 12.7 18.4 Religious 3.9 3.9 2.1 4.9 -19.5 Amusement and recreation 6.6 7.0 -5.4 6.2 6.7 Transportation 11.4 11.2 1.3 10.3 10.3 Communication 17.8 16.7 6.5 18.3 -2.9 Power 88.6 85.9 3.2 77.2 14.9 Electric 73.2 70.6 3.6 61.0 19.9 Manufacturing 43.5 38.3 13.6 30.3 43.4 Total Public Construction ($ billions) 286.6 285.3 0.5 293.9 -2.5 Residential 7.4 7.4 0 9.4 -21.7 Office 12.1 12.0 0.8 12.3 -1.6 Commercial 3.6 3.5 2.3 3.0 18.5 Health care 10.3 10.3 0 10.0 2.6 Educational 70.6 71.1 -0.6 69.4 1.8 Public safety 9.7 9.9 -1.8 9.5 1.9 Amusement and recreation 9.0 8.8 1.7 9.9 -9.9 Transportation 23.0 22.8 0.6 27.7 -17.2 Power 12.4 12.5 -0.6 13.3 -7 Highway and street 84.5 82.9 1.8 82.4 2.5 Sewage and waste disposal 23.2 23.1 0.5 24.7 -5.7 Water supply 13.1 13.0 0.4 14.2 -7.7 Conservation and development 6.0 6.1 -1.4 6.7 -10.4

1-Preliminary; 2-Revised
Note: The U.S. Census department changed its construction categories beginning with its May 2003 statistics. With the changes in the project classifications, data now presented are not directly comparable with those data previously published in the regular-format press releases and tables. Direct comparisons can only be made at the total, total private, total state and local, total federal, and total public levels for annual and not seasonally adjusted monthly data. For more information, check out http://www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html.