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Residential Construction Spending Ticks Up in March

The ""Census Bureau"":http://www.census.gov/ released Wednesday a ""report"":http://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/release.pdf showing a decline in construction spending throughout March.

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According to Census data, construction spending in March was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $856.7 billion, a 1.7 percent drop from February's revised estimate of $871.2 billion. Year-over-year, March's figures were up 4.8 percent from $817.8 billion.

For the entire first quarter, construction spending amounted to $181.7 billion, 4.7 percent above the $173.6 billion recorded for the same period in 2012.

While total spending fell, spending for housing construction inched up. According to the report, residential construction spending was at annual rate of $301.6 billion, 0.7 percent above February and 17.8 percent above March 2012.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $598.4 billion, Census reported--0.6 percent below February's revised estimate of $602.0 billion. Private residential construction spending was up 0.4 percent to a rate of $294.4 billion, with both single- and multifamily spending increasing from month to month; private single-family construction spending reached a rate of about $162.0 billion, while multifamily spending was at a rate of approximately $27.5 billion.

The public sector also saw declines in March, with spending falling to an annual rate of $258.3 billion. Spending on public residential construction was at an estimated rate of $6.7 billion, up 13.7 percent from February but down 0.2 percent from last March.

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