Private Residential Construction Increases in April

Further analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Construction Spending data for April, provided by the National Association of Home Builders, reports that total private residential construction spending rose 1.0% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $729.2 billion. Total private residential construction spending was 29.7% higher than a year ago. The NAHB attributes most of the monthly gains to the strong growth of spending on multifamily and single-family construction. Multifamily construction spending rose 1.9% in April, continuing the upward trend since May 2020. Single-family construction spending was up 1.3% to a 396.3 billion annual pace in April. Housing demand remains strong, despite various building headwinds. Remodeling spending inched up by 0.3% in April, after an increase of 3.6% in March. The NAHB construction spending index shows solid growth in single-family construction and home improvement from the second half of 2019 to February 2020, before the COVID-19 hit the U.S. economy, and the quick rebounds since July 2020. New multifamily construction spending has picked up the pace after a slowdown from the second half of 2019. On the other hand, private nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $451.4 billion. It was 4.8% lower than a year ago.