Construction spending in ticked up in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.280 trillion according to data released by the Census Bureau on Wednesday. The rate was 1.3 percent higher than the December estimate of $1.263 million and 0.3 percent higher than the pace in January 2018.
On a non-adjusted basis, the amount spent by both private and public entities was $88.086 billion compared to $95.191 billion in December and $88.504 billion the prior January, an annual decline of 0.5 percent.
Expenditures on construction throughout 2018 totaled $1.293 trillion compared to $1.246 trillion for all of 2017. This was an increase of 3.8 percent. The largest single non-residential expenditure during the year was for construction related to power, $100.180 billion.
Privately funded construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $966.041 billion in January, up 0.2 percent from December but lagging January 2018 spending by 2.0 percent. Residential spending was at a rate of $511.375 billion, down 0.3 percent and 5.6 percent month-over-month and on an annual basis. Non-adjusted residential spending was down 7.6 percent from a year earlier to $33.756 billion.
Single family spending was off 0.7 percent and 7.2 percent from the two earlier periods to an annual rate of $264.416 billion. On a non-adjusted basis, the month's expenditures were $18.230 billion compared to $19.725 billion in December and $19.772 billion a year earlier, a -7.8 percent annual difference. Multifamily spending rose 1.4 percent from December to a seasonally adjusted rate of $65.651 billion which is a 12.8 percent year-over-year gain. On an unadjusted basis that spending rose 13.4 percent compared to January 2018.
Privately funded construction spending totaled $991.684 billion in 2018 compared to $962.780 in 2017, a 3.0 percent increase. Residential construction spending rose 2.6 percent from $531.657 billion in 2017 to $545.388 billion. Spending on single-family construction was $284.012 billion and multifamily was $60.253 billion. The 2017 numbers were $270.163 billion and $59.945 billion respectively for increases in 2018 of 5.2 percent and 0.5 percent.
Public construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $313.595 billion, a 4.9 percent increase from December and 8.0 percent higher than the prior January. Residential construction, estimated at $5.776 billion was 4.0 percent above the December number but down 12.7 percent year-over-year.
Public spending for all of 2018 was $301.571 billion compared to $283.220 billion the previous year, a gain of 6.5 percent. Residential spending totaled $6.378 billion versus $6.719 billion, a year-over-year decline of 4.9 percent.
The January construction spending report was the last of the data delayed by the partial government shutdown. The Census Bureau will resume the regular schedule with the February report published on April 1.
