Year-To-Date U.S. Construction Spending Up 4.9% Through March

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that March construction spending was up 3.6 percent year-over-year, and up 0.2 percent from February.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the following value put in place construction statistics for March 2017:

Total Construction
Construction spending during March 2017 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,218.3 billion, 0.2 percent (±2.1 percent) below the revised February estimate of $1,220.7 billion. The March figure is 3.6 percent (±1.5 percent) above the March 2016 estimate of $1,176.4 billion. During the first three months of this year, construction spending amounted to $259.5 billion, 4.9 percent (±1.6 percent) above the $247.5 billion for the same period in 2016.

Private Construction
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $940.2 billion, nearly the same as (± 3.3 percent) the revised February estimate of $940.1 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $503.4 billion in March, 1.2 percent (±1.3 percent) above the revised February estimate of $497.4 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $436.8 billion in March, 1.3 percent (± 3.3 percent) below the revised February estimate of $442.6 billion.

Public Construction
In March, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $278.1 billion, 0.9 percent (±2.0 percent) below the revised February estimate of $280.7 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $70.2 billion, 2.0 percent (±2.6 percent) below the revised February estimate of $71.6 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $91.5 billion, 0.5 percent (±4.9 percent)* above the revised February estimate of $91.1 billion

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