Construction Spending Rises in February

Construction spending rose 1.2 percent month-over-month in February, according to the ""Census Bureau."":http://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/release.pdf Spending rose both in the public and private sectors.

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On an annual basis, construction spending was up 7.9 percent in February, reaching an annual rate of $885.1 billion.

Combined, construction spending in January and February totaled $120.1 billion, which is 6.6 percent above the spending observed in the first two months of last year.

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Private construction spending was up 1.3 percent in the month of February with residential spending contributing to the majority of the increase.

Residential construction spending increased 2.2 percent over the month, while nonresidential construction spending increased 0.4 percent.

Year-over-year, residential spending increased 20.1 percent, while nonresidential spending increased at a lower rate of 6.1 percent.

However, nonresidential spending still outpaced residential spending as the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of residential spending came to $303.4 billion in February, and the nonresidential annualized rate totaled $309.6 billion.

Within the residential sector, multifamily construction spending decreased in February while single-family construction spending rose.

Multifamily construction spending fell 2.2 percent over the month but increased 51.8 percent over the year, while single-family construction spending rose 4.3 percent over the month and 34.1 percent over the year.

Public construction spending increased but at a slower pace than private construction spending--rising 0.9 percent over the month.