Total construction spending during Jan. 2023 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,825.7 billion, -0.1% below the revised December estimate of $1,827.5 billion. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the January figure is +5.7% above the Jan. 2022 estimate of $1,726.6 billion.
Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,442.6 billion, virtually unchanged from the revised December estimate of $1,442 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $847.4 billion in January, -0.6% below the revised December estimate of $852.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $595.2 billion in January, +0.9% above the revised December estimate of $589.9 billion.
The private Manufacturing category was once again in the spotlight, with a +6% gain in January to $139.4 billion. The Computer/electronic/electrical sub-category did most of the heavy lifting with a +8.8% monthly increase and +157.9% YOY increase to $60.9 billion.
The private Office category showed a small +0.5% monthly increase to $90 billion, but that figure was up a surprising +14.5% over Jan. 2022.
Public construction. In January, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $383.1 billion, -0.6% below the revised December estimate of $385.5 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $84.1 billion, -0.6% below the revised December estimate of $84.6 billion.
