June New Construction Spending Takes Unexpected Turn Lower
ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in June decreased by 1.8% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $950.2 billion from an upwardly revised estimate of $967.8 billion in May. Compared with June 2013, spending…
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The U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in June decreased by 1.8% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $950.2 billion from an upwardly revised estimate of $967.8 billion in May. Compared with June 2013, spending is up 5.5%.
For the first six months of 2014, new construction spending is up 7.8% compared with the first six months of 2013.
The consensus estimate by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a rise of 0.5% in construction spending for June.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of spending on private residential construction fell 0.2% to $361.34 billion compared with the revised May total of $362.13 billion. Private non-residential construction slipped 2.8% month-over-month and total private construction spending fell 1% to $685.46 billion compared with a revised May total of $692.04 billion.
In the private sector, single family residential construction is 8.5% higher than it was a year ago and multi-family construction is up 33.2% from June 2013. Private, non-residential construction is up 11.2% year-over-year, and down 1.6% from May.
In the public sector, seasonally adjusted total spending is down 4% year-over-year. Spending on educational facilities fell 4.9% month-over-month and 6.4% from May 2013 spending. Public residential construction rose 6.3% month-over-month, but fell 12.3% year-over-year.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
