New Construction Spending Slips Nearly 1% in May

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Updated Published
New Construction Spending Slips Nearly 1% in May

© Thinkstock

The U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in May dipped by 0.8% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $1.143 trillion from the upwardly revised estimate of nearly $1.152 trillion in April. Compared with May 2015, total spending is up 2.8%.

For the first five months of 2016, new construction spending rose 8.2% to an estimated total of $438.5 billion compared with the 2015 total of $405.4 billion.

The consensus estimate by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a rise of 0.6% in construction spending for May and year-over-year gain of 4.5%.

For the month of May private residential construction remained essentially flat month over month at $458.3 billion. Private non-residential construction fell 1.3% month-over-month and total private construction spending on a seasonally adjusted annual basis fell 0.3% to $859.3 billion compared with a revised April total of $861.9 billion.

[nativounit]

In the private sector, single family residential construction is 6.3% higher than it was a year ago and multi-family construction is up 23.9% from May 2015. Private, non-residential construction is up 5.4% year over year.

In the public sector, seasonally adjusted total spending fell 2.3% compared with April and is now 2.6% lower compared with March 2015. Spending on educational facilities decreased by 5.4% month over month, and is down 0.8% from May 2015 spending. Public residential construction fell 0.6% month over month, and remains down 4% compared with May 2015.

Private-company spending on new housing remains up 5.4% year over year thru May and private sector spending on non-residential construction is up 3.9% year over year. Total public and private construction spending is up 2.8% compared with May 2015.

[wallst_email_signup]

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

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.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

ABNB Vol: 15,913,532
MCHP Vol: 19,139,274
PLTR Vol: 77,244,625
MRNA Vol: 6,820,582
AXON Vol: 1,591,869

Top Losing Stocks

TTD Vol: 133,458,224
CTRA Vol: 73,319,495
AKAM Vol: 8,143,961
ZTS Vol: 12,784,553
RMD Vol: 3,810,438