Construction Shows Slight Increase in March But is Still Down 12.3 Percent YTY

The Department of Commerce said construction spending during March was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $847.3 billion, 0.2 percent above the revised February estimate of $845.5 billion. The March figure is 12.3 percent below the March 2009 estimate of $966.7 billion. During the first three months of this year, construction spending amounted to $179.9 billion, 14 percent below the $209.2 billion for the same period in 2009.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $550.8 billion, 0.9 percent below the revised February estimate of $555.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $251.8 billion in March, 1.1 percent below the revised February estimate of $254.6 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $299 billion in March, 0.7 percent below the revised February estimate of $301.1 billion.

Public construction

In March, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $296.5 billion, 2.3 percent above the revised February estimate of $289.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $75.9 billion, 2.2 percent below the revised February estimate of $77.6 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — March 2010

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

Mar 2010₁ Feb 2010₂ Mo % Change Mar 2009 YTY % Change Total Construction847.3845.5310.2966.7-12.3Total Private Construction₁ 550.8 555.7 -0.9 650.4 -15.3 Residential 260.5 263.1 -1 256.5 1.6 New single family 118.9 117.0 1.6 101.5 17.2 New multi-family 15.8 16.9 -6.3 37.7 -58.1 Lodging 12.6 13.2 -4.5 31.3 -59.7 Office 41.5 42.0 -1.3 62.9 -34.1 Commercial 43.6 44.5 -1.9 69.1 -36.8 Health care 41.6 40.2 3.4 47.8 -13.1 Educational 91.5 92.7 -1.4 109.2 -16.2 Religious 6.0 5.8 3.4 7.0 -14.4 Public safety 13.0 12.8 1.9 14.1 -7.4 Amusement and recreation 15.1 15.1 -0.1 20.1 -25 Transportation 38.7 35.4 9.6 31.7 22.2 Communication 17.3 19.6 -12 20.0 -13.4 Power 84.2 85.0 -0.9 85.7 -1.8 Electric 50.7 50.7 0 54.2 -6.4 Highway and street 78.2 77.1 1.5 79.4 -1.4 Sewage and waste disposal 24.4 23.7 2.9 27.0 -9.6 Water supply 14.3 13.5 6.1 16.2 -12 Conservation and development 5.6 5.5 0.3 6.2 -10.3 Manufacturing 59.2 56.3 5.1 82.5 -28.3 Total Public Construction₂296.5289.92.3316.3-6.3Residential 8.7 8.5 2.5 7.6 14 Office 13.6 13.3 2 14.8 -8.1 Commercial 2.8 3.1 -9.4 4.1 -31.3 Health care 9.4 9.0 4.9 9.4 0 Educational 75.9 77.6 -2.2 91.4 -16.9 Public safety 12.4 12.3 1.6 13.7 -9.3 Amusement and recreation 9.7 10.2 -4.6 10.8 -10.2 Transportation 30.4 27.0 12.4 23.1 31.9 Power 11.1 9.0 23.7 13.1 -14.9 Highway and street 78.1 77.0 1.5 79.2 -1.4 Sewage and waste disposal 23.8 23.2 2.7 26.6 -10.5 Water supply 14.0 13.2 5.9 15.7 -10.6 Conservation and development 5.5 5.5 0.3 6.1 -8.9

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.