Value of New Construction Spending in March Tracking +5.3% YOY at $1.513.1 Billion

Total construction spending during March 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,513.1 billion, +0.2% above the revised February estimate of $1,509.9 billion. The March figure is +5.3% above the March 2020 estimate of $1,436.7 billion.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,169.2 billion, +0.7% above the revised February estimate of $1,160.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $725.2 billion in March, +1.7% above the revised February estimate of $713.1 billion and +23.2% above spending in March 2020. Multi-family residential construction was the only other private construction category tracking at a double-digit YOY growth rate.

Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $444 billion in March, -0.9% below the revised February estimate of $447.8 billion.

Public construction. In March, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $343.9 billion, -1.5% below the revised February estimate of $349 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $85.3 billion, -2% below the revised February estimate of $87.1 billion, and -4% below Feb. 2020 spending levels. Public health-care construction is shining the brightest in this category, with a +1.6% increase to $9.7 billion in March. This rate of spending is +7.7% YOY over the March 2020 rate.