January Value of New Construction Data Show Monthly Decline But Good Y-O-Y Gains

The Department of Commerce said construction spending during Jan. 2015 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $971.4 billion, 1.1% below the revised December estimate of $982 billion. The January figure is 1.8% above the Jan. 2014 estimate of $954.6 billion.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $697.6 billion, 0.5% below the revised December estimate of $700.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $351.7 billion in January, 0.6% above the revised December estimate of $349.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $345.9 billion in January, 1.6% below the revised December estimate of $351.5 billion.

Manufacturing was the only major segment registering a sizeable monthly  increase to $64.1 billion. It was also up a whopping  22.5% from Jan. 2014. Religious construction saw the biggest decline in January, with an 11.5% drop from December to $3.1 billion.

Public construction. In January, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $273.8 billion, 2.6% below the revised December estimate of $281.1 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $58.9 billion, 3.4% below the revised December estimate of $60.9 billion. None of the major market segments  in public construction ventured into positive growth territory in January, and  all of them showed monthly declines of up to 8%. The year-over year comparison data was better, with residential (+14.5%); commercial (+13.3%); amusement and recreation (+16.5%) showing nice increases.