Construction Slides in February and is Down 12.8 Percent from February 2009

Construction spending during Feb. 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $846.2 billion, 1.3 percent below the revised January estimate of $857.8 billion. The February figure is 12.8 percent below the Feb. 2009 estimate of $970.4 billion. During the first two months of this year, construction spending amounted to $116.2 billion, 14.4 percent below the $135.7 billion for the same period in 2009.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $553.5 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised January estimate of $560.1 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $250.8 billion in February, 2.1 percent below the revised January estimate of $256.2 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $302.7 billion in February, 0.4 percent below the revised January estimate of $303.8 billion.

Public construction

In February, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $292.7 billion, 1.7 percent below the revised January estimate of $297.7 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $77.5 billion, 0.8 percent below the revised January estimate of $78.1 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $79.8 billion, 2.1 percent below the revised January estimate of $81.4 billion.

Manufacturing was the one category in the private construction sector showing an increase over January. It was up 3.4 percent for the month, but down 34.9 percent from Feb. 2009.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — February 2010

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

Feb. 2010₁Mo % changeJan. 2010₂Feb. 2009YTY changeTotal Construction 846,233 -1.3 857,803 970,413 -12.8 Total Private Construction ₁ 553,491 -1.2 560,061 660,897 -16.3 Residential 258,491 -2.1 264,000 268,715 -3.8 Nonresidential 587,742 -1.0 593,802 701,698 -16.2 Lodging 13,888 -6.2 14,801 29,231 -52.5 Office 43,677 -2.6 44,843 63,467 -31.2 Commercial 44,621 -3.2 46,117 69,986 -36.2 Health care 40,794 -1.6 41,438 47,917 -14.9 Educational 92,109 -0.6 92,690 105,325 -12.5 Religious 5,515 -0.6 5,547 7,166 -23.0 Public safety 13,049 0.6 12,970 13,961 -6.5 Amusement and recreation 15,647 -2.2 15,995 20,178 -22.5 Transportation 34,979 -0.2 35,048 31,383 11.5 Communication 19,936 0.7 19,799 19,916 0.1 Power 87,676 1.1 86,742 83,378 5.2 Highway and street 79,908 -2.0 81,549 81,528 -2.0 Sewage and waste disposal 23,694 -5.0 24,953 24,417 -3.0 Water supply 13,094 -4.6 13,724 16,149 -18.9 Conservation and development 5,884 -2.9 6,057 5,856 0.5 Manufacturing 53,273 3.4 51,531 81,840 -34.9 Total Public Construction ₂ 292,742 -1.7 297,742 309,516 -5.4 Residential 7,715 -0.9 7,782 7,901 -2.4 Nonresidential 285,027 -1.7 289,960 301,615 -5.5 Office 13,716 -3.9 14,280 15,048 -8.9 Commercial 3,266 0.2 3,258 3,516 -7.1 Health care 8,832 0.6 8,783 9,350 -5.5 Educational 77,456 -0.8 78,071 87,552 -11.5 Public safety 12,518 0.1 12,504 13,446 -6.9 Amusement and recreation 10,579 -1.6 10,752 10,824 -2.3 Transportation 26,806 0.3 26,738 22,861 17.3 Power 9,384 -1.1 9,492 11,527 -18.6 Highway and street 79,761 -2.1 81,434 81,438 -2.1 Sewage and waste disposal 23,165 -5.3 24,471 23,967 -3.3 Water supply 12,802 -4.0 13,340 15,586 -17.9 Conservation and development 5,877 -2.7 6,040 5,839 0.7

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.