Department of Commerce Reports Mild Dip in April Construction to $765 Billion

Construction spending during April 2011 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $765 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $762.1 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. The April figure is 9.3 percent below the April 2010 estimate of $843.1 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $222.7 billion, 8.4 percent below the $243 billion for the same period in 2010.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $483 billion, 1.7 percent above the revised March estimate of $474.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $232.1 billion in April, 3.1 percent above the revised March estimate of $225.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $250.8 billion in April, 0.5 percent above the revised March estimate of $249.6 billion. Private office construction took another hit in April, sliding 3.2 percent to $21.6 billion. Year-to-year, private office construction is down 14 percent from April 2010.

Public construction

In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $282 billion, 1.9 percent below the revised March estimate of $287.4 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $67.3 billion, 2.7 percent below the revised March estimate of $69.2 billion. Public construction of education buildings dropped 2.7 percent to $67.3 billion in April and is down 8.6 percent from April 2010. On the plus side, construction of public health care buildings increased 4.4 percent in April to $10.7 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — April 2011

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

Apr '11₁ Mar '11₂ Mo. % Change Apr '11 YTY % Change Total Construction 765.0 762.1 0.4 843.1 -9.3 Total Private Construction¹ 483.0 474.7 1.7 538.4 -10.3 Residential 232.1 225.1 3.1 264.2 -12.1 New single family 104.7 105.7 -1.0 120.1 -12.8 New multi-family 12.8 12.8 -0.1 13.9 -7.6 Lodging 7.7 8.0 -4.4 11.3 -32.3 Office 21.6 22.4 -3.2 25.2 -14.0 Commercial 35.8 36.3 -1.3 39.5 -9.2 Health care 29.8 29.6 0.8 30.3 -1.5 Educational 13.3 12.8 3.9 14.2 -6.1 Religious 4.4 4.6 -2.9 5.4 -18.2 Amusement and recreation 5.5 5.3 2.7 6.5 -16.2 Transportation 8.4 9.1 -7.0 8.3 1.7 Communication 18.1 17.3 4.7 18.1 0.4 Power 72.3 70.1 3.2 70.1 3.2 Electric 57.5 55.8 2.9 55.0 4.5 Manufacturing 32.2 32.6 -1.0 44.1 -26.9 Total Public Construction² 282.0 287.4 -1.9 304.8 -7.5 Residential 8.7 8.6 1.6 9.5 -7.7 Office 11.9 11.8 0.6 13.1 -9.7 Commercial 3.4 3.3 1.0 2.5 36.6 Health care 10.7 10.2 4.4 9.3 15.2 Educational 67.3 69.2 -2.7 73.7 -8.6 Public safety 10.4 10.5 -0.9 12.2 -15.0 Amusement and recreation 9.6 10.3 -6.8 10.4 -7.4 Transportation 29.3 30.5 -3.8 34.6 -15.2 Power 10.3 10.5 -2.1 10.6 -2.6 Highway and street 77.5 78.7 -1.6 82.1 -5.6 Sewage and waste disposal 21.6 22.1 -2.5 24.6 -12.4 Water supply 13.4 13.5 -0.6 14.7 -9.0 Conservation and development 6.8 6.9 -1.8 6.5 4.6

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.