The dollar value of new construction activity on residential, non-residential, and public projects. Data are available in nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) dollars. Why Investors Care
| Released on 5/1/08 For Mar 2008 | ||||||||||||
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Highlights
Construction spending in March returned to negative territory, led down by housing. Construction outlays fell 1.1 percent, following a 0.4 percent rebound in February. March's fall was worse than the consensus forecast for a 0.9 percent drop. The March decline in construction spending was led by a 4.6 percent drop in private residential outlays. However, private nonresidential construction firmed with a 1.9 percent jump while public outlays posted a healthy 0.6 percent gain.
Weakness in the private residential component was led by a 5.3 percent drop in single-family outlays as multifamily spending rose 2.0 percent. The nonresidential component was boosted by office, manufacturing, power, and transportation outlays. Commercial construction dipped for the month.
On a year-on-year basis, overall construction outlays were down 3.4 percent in March, compared to down 2.2 percent the month before.
Overall, construction weakness in the non-housing components may be fading, leaving housing as the only really down sector. Despite the larger-than-expected decline in overall outlays, the gains in non-housing are encouraging.
Construction spending continued downward in February with both residential and nonresidential components falling. Construction outlays posted a 0.3 percent drop, following a 1.0 percent fall in January. February's decrease in construction spending was led by a 0.9 percent decline in private residential outlays with private nonresidential construction slipping 0.1 percent. Public outlays advanced 0.4 percent in the latest month. With housing starts dropping a sharp 11.9 percent in March, the residential outlays component is likely to tug sharply downward on overall outlays in the upcoming release.
Construction spending Consensus Forecast for March 08: -0.9 percent
Range: -1.0 to -0.4 percent
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Over the last year, a decline in residential outlays has pulled down year-on-year growth for overall construction outlays. Nonresidential and public outlays are positive with nonresidential actually strong. |
| 2008 Release Schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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