Commerce Dept. Says October Value of New Construction Increases to $798.5 Billion

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce said construction spending during October 2011 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $798.5 billion, 0.8 percent above the revised September estimate of $792.1 billion. The October figure is 0.4 percent below the October 2010 estimate of $802 billion. During the first 10 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $655.5 billion, 2.9 percent below the $675.4 billion for the same period in 2010.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $518.6 billion, 2.3 percent above the revised September estimate of $507.1 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $239 billion in October, 3.4 percent above the revised September estimate of $231.2 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $279.6 billion in October, 1.3 percent above the revised September estimate of $275.9 billion. Construction of new electrical utility plants led all segments of private construction with a 5.7% increase to $68.7 billion

Public construction

In October, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $279.9 billion, 1.8 percent below the revised September estimate of $285 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $72.2 billion, 1.8 percent below the revised September estimate of $73.6 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $80.1 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised September estimate of $80.5 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — October 2011

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

Oct. '11₁ Sept. '11₂ Mo. % Change Oct. '10 YTY % Change Total Construction 798.5 792.1 0.8 802.0 -0.4 Total Private Construction1 518.6 507.1 2.3 492.9 5.2 Residential 239.0 231.2 3.4 235.0 1.7 New single family 107.5 106.9 0.6 106.4 1 New multi-family 14.9 15.1 -0.8 14.0 6.7 Lodging 7.8 8.0 -2.8 9.5 -18.1 Office 23.7 23.0 3 23.6 0.7 Commercial 40.6 40.4 0.4 36.3 11.9 Health care 29.6 30.1 -1.9 30.6 -3.3 Educational 14.2 14.3 -0.3 12.5 14 Religious 4.0 4.1 -1.7 5.0 -19 Amusement and recreation 7.1 7.5 -4.4 6.1 16.6 Transportation 11.6 11.3 2.6 10.5 10.8 Communication 17.3 18.0 -3.7 18.2 -4.7 Power 84.5 79.9 5.8 71.5 18.2 Electric 68.7 65.0 5.7 52.9 29.8 Manufacturing 37.8 37.9 -0.4 33.2 13.9 Public construction ($ billions) 279.9 285.0 -1.8 309.1 -9.4 Residential 8.3 8.5 -2 10.9 -24 Office 11.0 11.3 -2.3 12.9 -14.4 Commercial 3.1 3.6 -12.9 3.4 -9.7 Health care 9.5 10.6 -10.5 10.0 -5.5 Educational 72.2 73.6 -1.8 71.8 0.6 Public safety 9.2 9.4 -2.1 10.3 -10.7 Amusement and recreation 8.5 8.5 -1.1 10.9 -22.1 Transportation 23.1 23.8 -2.6 27.0 -14.4 Power 11.3 11.2 0.4 13.6 -17 Highway and street 80.1 80.5 -0.4 87.3 -8.3 Sewage and waste disposal 22.1 22.2 -0.4 26.7 -17.2 Water supply 13.3 13.6 -1.6 14.9 -10.4 Conservation and development 6.8 6.4 6.5 7.9 -14.3

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.