Construction spending continued to be lukewarm in September, lagging behind both September 2015 and August 2016. Multi-family construction was among the few bright spots along with a substantial revision of August's totals.
Total construction spending during the month was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 trillion, down 0.4 percent from August and 0.2 percent lower than the September 2015 estimate. August's rate however was revised from a loss of 0.7 percent to a 0.5 percent gain. For the year through the end of September total spending is estimated at $863.2 billion, an increase of 4.4 percent over the same period in 2015.
Analysts polled by Econoday were looking for a positive number. The range was an increase of 0.2 percent to 0.8 percent with a consensus of 0.6 percent.
Private construction spending was also down, a rate of $879.7 billion, 0.2 percent below the August estimate but that August number was revised up from $871.6 billion to $881.6 billion. The September figure is 2.4 percent higher than September 2015.
Residential spending was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $453.7 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent for the month and 0.9 percent on an annual basis. Single-family spending was up 0.1 percent to $236.6 billion, 2.9 percent below the rate last year. Spending on multi-family construction was 62.1 billion, a 2.0 percent and 9.1 percent improvement over the two earlier periods.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there was $42.0 billion spent on residential construction in September; $22,1 billion of it on single-family housing. On a year-to-date basis residential spending is up 5.5 percent from the same period in 2015, single family spending is 6.0 percent higher and multi-family rose 18.8 percent.
Total public sector spending on construction was at an annual rate of $270.3 billion, down 0.9 percent from the rate in August and down 7.8 percent year-over-year. Public spending on residential construction was $5.8 billion, a decline of 9.9 percent from August and 14.8 percent from a year earlier.
