Construction spending rose 0.8 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.30 trillion compared to $1.29 trillion in October. The Census Bureau report, delayed from its original release date in early January by the partial government showdown, shows overall construction spending up 4.5 percent from November 2017.

On an unadjusted basis there was $108.33 billion spent on overall construction, both private and public, during the month compared to $115.84 billion in October.  Year-to-date (YTD) spending through the end of November was $1.20 trillion, up from 1.15 trillion during the first 11 months of 2017.

Private sector funds spent on construction in November were a seasonally adjust $993.4 billion, a 1.3 percent increase from October and up 2.3 percent year-over-year.  Unadjusted private sector expenditures totaled $82.96 billion compared to $86.52 billion the previous month.  For the year through November spending was 3.7 percent above the same period in 2017, $919.49 billion versus $886.49 billion.

Residential spending was at a rate of $542.53 billion, an increase of 3.5 percent and 0.8 percent from the two earlier periods. However, the increase was all on the multifamily side of the ledger. Single-family spending was at a rate of $277.51 billion, down 1.8 percent from October and 1.0 percent from November 2017.  Multifamily construction was up 2.6 percent and 8.3 percent for the month and the year.

On an unadjusted basis residential spending for the month was $44.39 billion, $24.25 billion of which was for single-family construction. For the YTD residential pending was up 3.9 percent with single family spending increasing 6.1 percent and multifamily up 0.8 percent.

Public sector expenditures were at a seasonally adjusted rate of $306.51 billion, down 0.9 percent for the month but 7.0 percent higher than a year earlier. Residential spending was at a rate of $5.85 billion, down 4.3 percent month over month and 15.2 percent on an annual basis.

The Census Bureau has not announced a released date for the December construction numbers. The original schedule was for publication today.