US Private Residential Construction Spending Increases 0.2% in September

A closer look at the US Census Bureau’s construction spending report for September, with a focus on residential spending and additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that private residential construction spending trended up 0.2%. Year-over-year, construction spending was 4.1% higher.

NAHB notes that the monthly increase in total private construction spending for September was largely due to more spending on single-family construction. Spending on single-family construction rose by 0.4% in September. This broke a five-month streak of declines, aligning with the modest gains in single-family starts during the month. Compared to a year ago, spending on single-family construction was 0.9% higher.

In contrast, NAHB points out that multifamily construction spending continued to decline, edging down 0.1% in September after a dip of 0.3% in August. Year-over-year, spending on multifamily construction was down 8.1%, as there is an elevated level of apartments under construction being completed. Meanwhile, private residential improvement spending stayed flat for the month and was 13.5% higher than a year ago.

Spending on private nonresidential construction was up 3.5% over a year ago. The annual private nonresidential spending increase was mainly due to higher spending for the class of manufacturing, up $39.4 billion, followed by the power category, up $6.9 billion.