Construction Spending Climbs 0.2% in April

Construction spending edged up 0.2 percent in April following a nearly $10 billion upward revision in March, according to data released Monday.

The Department of Commerce estimates overall construction outlays came to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $953.5 billion in April, just up from March's revised $951.6 billion (originally reported at $942.5 billion). Despite the small increase, the gain brought spending levels up to their highest since March 2009.

Year-over-year, total spending was up 8.6 percent from a rate of $878.4 billion in April 2013, the government reported.

All of April's increase came from a slight improvement in spending on nonresidential projects, which was up 0.4 percent to an estimated rate of $570.6 billion. Residential spending, meanwhile, fell slightly to $382.9 billion from just under $383 billion the month prior.

In the private sector, overall construction spending was at an adjusted pace of $686.5 billion, a slight decline from March, with residential building accounting for $378.5 billion of that total. Again, increases in spending on multifamily projects outpaced those of single-family building—a 2.7 percent gain compared to a 1.3 percent increase.

The slight pickup in spending on single-family homes lines up with homebuilder confidence levels, which were up only slightly in April as hopes for future sales grew.

Meanwhile, spending on public housing construction fell 6 percent over the month to a rate of $4.4 billion, dropping 29.3 percent compared to last year.