Tag Archives: Commerce Department

In a report on Tuesday, the Commerce Department estimated construction spending throughout the month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $971 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent over September's revised estimate of $960.3 billion. A large share of October's increase came in spending on residential projects.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that sales of new single-family houses were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 in October, up 0.7 percent from September's revised rate of 455,000 and 1.8 percent over last year's pace of 450,000 sales.

According to a second estimate from the Commerce Department, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.9 percent in July, August, and September, down slightly from the second quarter's growth rate of 4.6 percent and up from the first quarter's 2.1 percent downturn.

According to a report released by the Commerce Department, groundbreaking on new housing projects was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.01 million last month, a drop of 2.8 percent from September's upwardly revised estimate of 1.04 million. Meanwhile, permit issuance for new housing units was at a rate of 1.08 million, a six-year high for that figure.

According to a joint release from the Commerce Department and HUD, homebuilders broke ground on new projects at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.02 million last month, 6.3 percent above August's revised estimate of 957,000 (just barely up from the government's initial estimate).

In a report on Wednesday, the Commerce Department estimated construction spending for the month of August was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $961.0 billion, a decrease of 0.8 percent from July’s revised estimate of $968.8 billion. The drop included a 0.1 percent falloff in private homebuilding from July, though the much smaller public residential construction category saw a 3.3 percent increase.

In its third estimate, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Friday that gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter. The figure marks a step up from the bureau's last estimate of 4.2 percent growth, which in turn was up from an advance guess of 4.0 percent.

The Commerce Department reported new home sales in August were up 18 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000. Compared to August 2013, estimated sales were up 33 percent. Economists projected a consensus sales pace of 430,000, which would have been a slight increase over July's upwardly revised figure of 427,000. Forecasts ranged from a low of 407,000 to a high of 465,000—still nearly 40,000 short of the government's estimate.

According to the government's figures, privately owned housing starts last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000, marking a 14.4 percent month-over-month drop. July's rate of new homebuilding was revised up to 1.12 million. While apartment construction has led single-family homebuilding in most of this year's previous gains, the opposite was true in August's report: Multifamily starts (five units or more) plunged 31.5 percent in August to an adjusted annual rate of 304,000, while single-family starts were down a more modest 2.4 percent to 643,000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 142,000 in U.S. payrolls last month, well short of the 230,000 predicted by economists. August's sudden slowdown snaps a six-month streak in which payroll growth came in at 200,000 or higher.