June Construction Data Still Tracking Below June 2009 Activity Rate

It should come as no surprise that the latest construction data proves the construction market is still in the doldrums. What may shock some electrical execs is that according to Department of Commerce data many key construction market segments are still down double digits below 2009, which was in itself a historically bad year.

Construction spending during June 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $836 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised May estimate of $834.8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The June figure is 7.9 percent below the June 2009 estimate of $907.7 billion. During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $389.6 billion, 11.2 percent below the $438.7 billion for the same period in 2009.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $527.6 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised May estimate of $530.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $258.3 billion in June, 0.8 percent below the revised May estimate of $260.3 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $269.3 billion in June, 0.5 percent below the revised May estimate of $270.6 billion. Office and commercial construction are particularly soft, running -30.5 percent and -24.9 percent, respectively, when compared to June 2009.

Public construction. In June, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $308.4 billion, 1.5 percent above the revised May estimate of $303.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $71 billion, 3.2 percent below the revised May estimate of $73.4 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — June 2010

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

June 2010₁May 2010₂Mo. % ChangeJune 2009YTY % ChangeTotal Construction 836.0 834.8 0.1 907.7 -7.9 Total Private Construction ₁ 527.6 530.9 -0.6 586.1 -10.0 Residential 268.5 269.6 -0.4 238.9 12.4 Residential (inc. Improvements) ₂ 258.3 260.3 -0.8 231.1 11.8 New single family 119.5 120.4 -0.7 95.2 25.6 New multi-family 13.4 13.4 0.3 27.7 -51.5 Lodging 11.4 11.2 1.8 27.0 -57.7 Office 37.7 37.6 0.4 54.2 -30.5 Commercial 41.4 42.0 -1.4 55.1 -24.9 Health care 40.5 39.8 1.6 46.3 -12.7 Educational 84.6 87.2 -2.9 108.7 -22.2 Religious 6.0 5.8 2.7 6.2 -3.4 Public safety 12.8 12.5 2.3 15.1 -14.9 Amusement and recreation 16.5 16.2 1.9 19.5 -15.4 Transportation 43.0 43.0 0.1 38.1 13.0 Communication 17.6 18.3 -3.7 19.6 -10.3 Power 82.7 78.2 5.7 90.4 -8.5 Electric 55.6 52.8 5.2 58.7 -5.4 Manufacturing 41.5 43.3 -4.1 61.9 -32.9 Total Public Construction ₂ 308.4 303.9 1.5 321.6 -4.1 Residential 10.2 9.3 10.0 7.8 31.4 Office 13.4 13.0 3.1 14.8 -9.2 Commercial 2.7 2.5 7.3 4.2 -36.6 Health care 9.7 9.2 5.4 9.7 -0.3 Educational 71.0 73.4 -3.2 91.0 -21.9 Public safety 12.6 12.3 3.0 14.6 -13.6 Amusement and recreation 10.2 10.0 1.8 11.5 -11.5 Transportation 34.8 34.6 0.4 28.9 20.1 Power 11.7 9.4 25.2 12.6 -6.5 Highway and street 83.2 83.2 0.1 81.8 1.7 Sewage and waste disposal 25.6 24.7 3.6 23.4 9.3 Water supply 15.1 14.8 2.0 15.4 -2.0 Conservation and development 6.9 6.5 6.8 5.3 31.6

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.