Construction Spending Ticks Up Less than Expected in August

The U.S. Census Bureau reported total construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,287.3 billion in August, a gain of just 0.1% (±1.2%). The downwardly revised estimate for July was $1,285.6 billion.

That’s 1.9% (±1.8%) below the August 2018 estimate of $1,312.2 billion and construction spending amounted to $851.3 billion during the first 8 months of the year, or 2.3% (±1.2%) below the $871.3 billion for the same period in 2018.

Private Construction Spending

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $955.0 billion, nearly unchanged from (±0.8%) the revised July estimate of $954.8 billion.

Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $507.2 billion, a gain of 0.9% (±1.3%) from the estimate of $502.5 billion in July.

Nonresidential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $447.9 billion in August, or 1.0% (±0.8%) below the revised estimate of $452.3 billion for July.

Public Construction Spending

In August, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $332.3 billion, 0.4% (±2.0%) above the revised July estimate of $330.8 billion.