July New Construction Spending at 7-Year High
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday morning that construction spending in July increased less than economists predicted.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday morning that construction spending in July increased by 0.7% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.083 trillion from the revised estimate of $1.075 trillion in June. Compared with July 2014, spending is up 13.7%.
For the first seven months of 2014, new construction spending is up 9.3% at an estimated total of $583.2 billion, compared with the seven-month total of $533.7 billion in 2014.
The consensus estimate by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a rise of 0.8% in construction spending for July.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of spending on private residential construction rose 1.1% to $380.82 billion, compared with the revised June total of $376.59 billion. Private nonresidential construction rose 1.5% month over month, and total private construction spending rose 1.3% to $787.8 billion, compared with the revised June total of $777.4 billion.
In the private sector, single-family residential construction is 14.2% higher than it was a year ago, and multifamily construction is up 25.5% from July 2014. Private, nonresidential construction is up 11.5% year over year.
In the public sector, seasonally adjusted total spending is down 1% compared with June and up 6.1% compared with July 2014. Spending on educational facilities fell 3% month over month, but it is up 2.6% from July 2014 spending. Public residential construction slipped 0.1% month over month but rose 29% compared with July 2014.
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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.
