[1]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 [2] announced [3] 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 [4] (NAHB), predicted that single-family construction will continue to increase in 2015 in the NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog [5].
“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.”