Commerce Dept. Reports Value of New Construction Down 1.3 Percent in July

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce said construction spending during July 2011 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $789.5 billion, 1.3 percent below the revised June estimate of $799.8 billion. The July figure is 0.1 percent above the July 2010 estimate of $789 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $435.5 billion, 3.5 percent below the $451.2 billion for the same period in 2010.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $514.5 billion, 0.9 percent below the revised June estimate of $519.0 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $248.1 billion in July, 1.4 percent below the revised June estimate of $251.7 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $266.4 billion in July, 0.4 percent below the revised June estimate of $267.3 billion. The biggest decline in private construction was in the manufacturing category, which fell six percent from June to $34.3 billion

Public construction

In July, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275 billion, 2.1 percent below the revised June estimate of $280.8 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $67.2 billion, 4.3 percent below the revised June estimate of $70.2 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.9 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised June estimate of $74.5 billion. The residential (-7.1%), office (-3.4%), healthcare (-3.7%) and educational (-4.3%) categories all fell more than the 2.1 percent decline that the public construction category saw as a whole in July.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — July 2011

Value of Construction Put-in-Place ($ billions, seasonally adjusted annual rate)

July'11₁Jun '11₂Mo. % ChangeJuly '10YTY % ChangeTotal Construction 789.5 799.8 -1.3 789.0 0.1 Total Private Construction¹ 514.5 519.0 -0.9 487.6 5.5 Residential 248.1 251.7 -1.4 235.6 5.3 New single family 105.1 105.1 0.1 114.8 -8.4 New multi-family 14.0 13.8 1.4 14.9 -6 Nonresidential 266.4 267.3 -0.4 252.0 5.7 Lodging 7.7 7.9 -2.9 10.5 -26.6 Office 23.4 23.4 0.1 22.5 4.0 Commercial 41.3 40.6 1.9 36.5 13.2 Health care 29.9 29.5 1.3 30.5 -2.1 Educational 13.8 13.7 0.6 13.0 6.7 Religious 4.0 3.9 2.1 5.0 -20.5 Amusement and recreation 6.6 6.8 -3.3 6.6 -0.3 Transportation 10.6 10.6 -0.6 10.0 5.2 Communication 18.3 18.2 0.5 18.3 0.4 Power 75.0 74.7 0.5 61.5 22 Manufacturing 34.3 36.5 -6.0 36.2 -5.3 Total Public Construction² 275.0 280.8 -2.1 301.4 -8.8 Residential 7.6 8.2 -7.1 10.2 -25.4 Nonresidential 267.4 272.6 -1.9 291.2 -8.2 Office 11.2 11.6 -3.4 13.0 -14 Commercial 3.7 3.5 5.4 2.6 41.3 Health care 10.7 11.1 -3.7 9.6 11.7 Educational 67.2 70.2 -4.3 77.0 -12.8 Public safety 9.7 10.1 -4 10.5 -8.3 Amusement and recreation 9.1 8.9 1.4 10.6 -15 Transportation 24.6 25.1 -2.2 28.3 -13.3 Power 12.8 13.6 -5.7 12.3 4.4 Highway and street 74.9 74.5 0.5 77.8 -3.8 Sewage and waste disposal 22.4 22.7 -1.7 26.1 -14.3 Water supply 13.5 13.0 4.1 15.4 -12.4 Conservation and development 6.4 6.8 -5.1 6.6 -2.9

1-Preliminary; 2-Revised

Note: The U.S. Census department changed its construction categories beginning with its May 2003 statistics.

With the changes in the project classifications, data now presented are not directly comparable with those data previously published in the regular-format press releases and tables. Direct comparisons can only be made at the total, total private, total state and local, total federal, and total public levels for annual and not seasonally adjusted monthly data. For more information, check out http://www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html.