The Department of Commerce said construction spending during July 2012 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $834.4 billion, 0.9 percent below the revised June estimate of $842.2 billion. The July figure is 9.3 percent above the July 2011 estimate of $763.5 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $464.4 billion, 9.3 percent above the $425 billion for the same period in 2011.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $558.7 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised June estimate of $565.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $264.6 billion in July, 1.6 percent below the revised June estimate of $268.9 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $294.1 billion in July, 0.9 percent below the revised June estimate of $296.7 billion. Of the major construction categories, office construction showed one of the biggest improvement over 2011, a 10.2% improvement over July 2011 to $25.3 billion.
Private educational construction is also tracking well, with a 20.3% increase YTY in July to $17.8 billion. On the flip side, public educational construction is down 5% YTY through July to $66 billion, and was 0.6 percent below the revised June estimate of $66.4 billion.
Public construction. In July, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275.7 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised June estimate of $276.7 billion. Health-care construction was up 2.6% to $11.2 billion.