Construction for April 2015 at $1.1 Billion Annual Rate

Construction spending during April 2015 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,006.1 billion for April, 2.2 percent above March’s revised estimate of $984 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau Department of Commerce announced today.

The April 2015 figure is 4.8 percent above the April 2014 estimate of $960.3 billion, the Bureau reported. During the first 4 months of this year, construction spending increased 4.1 percent from $277.3 billion in 2014 to $288.7 billion this year.

The report says, private construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $725.2 billion, 1.8 percent above the revised March estimate of $712.1 billion. Meanwhile, residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $353.1 billion in April, 0.6 percent above the revised March estimate of $351.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $372.1 billion in April, 3.1 percent above the revised March estimate of $361.0 billion.

The Bureau reported for April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $280.9 billion, 3.3 percent above the revised March estimate of $271.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $63.3 billion, 3.6 percent above the revised March estimate of $61.2 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $87.1 billion, 8.5 percent above the revised March estimate of $80.3 billion.

Robert Dietz, Ph.D., VP for tax and market analysis at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), predicted that single-family construction will continue to increase in 2015 in the NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog.

“NAHB analysis of Census construction spending data finds that the pace of residential construction spending improved on both a monthly and year-over-year basis for April,” Dietz said.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of single-family construction spending was $206 billion, up 1.6 percent from March, and on a year-over-year basis, the pace of single-family construction spending was up more than 9 percent from April 2014.

“It is worth noting that the Census measure for total private residential construction spending shows a 2.1 percent year-over-year decline, despite annual gains for single-family and multifamily development,” Dietz said. “This decline is due to a significant decrease in the separate Census improvement category, which contrasts with other measures, including the NAHB Remodeling Market Index, which indicates strength for the home improvement sector.”