Construction Speding Increases

Construction Spending Increases

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Monday, June 2 that construction spending during the month of April was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $968.7 billion, up 0.8 percent from the previous month, surpassing analysts predictions. The slight uptick represents the first spending increase by U.S. construction firms since August of last year.

According to the Commerce Department, the spending increase can be attributed to the private construction market, which saw a 1.4-percent increase above the March 2009 estimate of $648.2 billion. Residential construction spending appears to have jumped 0.7 percent, and nonresidential construction spending was up 1.8 percent.

Public construction spending, however, continued to falter, falling to $311.4 billion, or 0.6 percent below the revised March estimate of $313.2 billion. Educational construction spending, for instance, dropped 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $89.1 billion.

The Commerce Department reports that more data will be released on July 1, 2009. For more information, visit www.census.gov/constructionspending.