November Construction Spending Flat with October But Down 13.2 Percent YTY

Construction spending during November 2009 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $900.1 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised October estimate of $905.6 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The November figure is 13.2 percent below the November 2008 estimate of $1,037.3 billion. During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $868.9 billion, 12.7 percent below the $994.9 billion for the same period in 2008.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $581.2 billion, 0.7 percent below the revised October estimate of $585.5 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $250.7 billion in November, 1.6 percent below the revised October estimate of $254.9 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $330.5 billion in November, nearly the same as the revised October estimate of $330.6 billion.

Public construction

In November, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $318.8 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised October estimate of $320.1 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $83.5 billion, 0.1 percent below the revised October estimate of $83.6 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $87.5 billion, 2.9 percent below the revised October estimate of $90.2 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — November 2009

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

Nov 2009₁ Mo. % change Oct. 2009₂ Nov. 2008 YTY Change Total Construction 900,079 -0.6 905,591 1,037,322 -13.2 Total Private Construction₁ 581,246 -0.7 585,531 726,837 -20.0 Residential 258,907 -1.6 263,009 317,981 -18.6 Nonresidential 641,172 -0.2 642,582 719,341 -10.9 Lodging 19,541 -1.0 19,739 35,930 -45.6 Office 49,170 -0.8 49,588 69,673 -29.4 Commercial 47,488 -0.7 47,836 76,654 -38.0 Health care 44,015 -2.6 45,199 49,549 -11.2 Educational 98,654 -0.1 98,706 104,377 -5.5 Religious 5,979 3.1 5,799 7,280 -17.9 Public safety 13,390 0.0 13,393 14,821 -9.7 Amusement and recreation 17,030 -2.6 17,478 20,532 -17.1 Transportation 37,244 0.0 37,257 33,784 10.2 Communication 19,417 0.5 19,321 22,095 -12.1 Power 86,946 1.3 85,830 81,841 6.2 Highway and street 87,688 -2.9 90,311 83,001 5.6 Sewage and waste disposal 25,316 3.5 24,469 25,882 -2.2 Water supply 17,042 9.7 15,533 17,528 -2.8 Conservation and development 6,215 2.0 6,091 5,390 15.3 Manufacturing 66,038 0.0 66,034 71,005 -7.0 Total Public Construction₂318,834-0.4320,060310,4852.7Residential 8,178 1.2 8,078 7,511 8.9 Nonresidential 310,656 -0.4 311,982 302,974 2.5 Office 15,133 2.3 14,792 13,884 9.0 Commercial 3,747 2.8 3,646 3,127 19.8 Health care 9,753 -4.4 10,205 8,692 12.2 Educational 83,457 -0.1 83,566 85,665 -2.6 Public safety 12,763 -0.8 12,862 14,318 -10.9 Amusement and recreation 11,365 -1.2 11,508 11,025 3.1 Transportation 28,393 0.4 28,275 23,901 18.8 Power 9,936 -8.7 10,878 11,096 -10.5 Highway and street 87,526 -2.9 90,171 82,832 5.7 Water supply 16,800 9.6 15,322 16,993 -1.1 Conservation and development 6,171 1.7 6,066 5,356 15.2

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.