Value of New Construction Slips 1.8% in May to $950.2 Billion But Remains Up 5.5% YOY

The Department of Commerce reported that construction spending during June 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $950.2 billion, 1.8% below the revised May estimate of $967.8 billion. The June figure is 5.5% above the June 2013 estimate of $900.3 billion. During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $445.1 billion, 7.8% above the $413.0 billion for the same period in 2013.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $685.5 billion, 1% below the revised May estimate of $692 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $355.9 billion in June, 0.3% below the revised May estimate of $357 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $329.5 billion in June, 1.6% below the revised May estimate of $335 billion. With a 2.5% increase to $41.8 billion in June, multi-family construction continued its rapid pace of expansion. It’s also up 33.2% year-over-year. Office construction is also up big-time over 2013, with its June data showing a 28.6% increase to $36.6 billion.

Public construction. In June, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $264.7 billion, 4% below the revised May estimate of $275.7 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $59.7 billion, 4.9% below the revised May estimate of $62.8 billion. Public residential construction was also up  in June, with a 6.3% increase to $5.4 billion.