U.S. Department of Commerce Reports New Construction Spending Still Positive YTD

The U.S. Census Bureau said construction spending during April 2015 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,006.1 billion, 2.2% above the revised March estimate of $984 billion. The April figure is 4.8% above the April 2014 estimate of $960.3 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $288.7 billion, 4.1% above the $277.3 billion for the same period in 2014.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $725.2 billion, 1.8% above the revised March estimate of $712.1 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $353.1 billion in April, 0.6% above the revised March estimate of $351.1 billion.

Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $372.1 billion in April, 3.1% above the revised March estimate of $361 billion. New office, commercial and health-care related construction in April — three of the most important construction segments for the electrical market — was up significantly over April 2014. At. $43.9 billion, new private office construction in April was up 22.6% YOY (year-over-year), while commercial construction, tracking at $61 billion for the month, was up 17.6% YOY. Health care construction was up a still solid 7.5% YOY for the month at $30.5 billion. 
 

Public construction. In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $280.9 billion, 3.3% above the revised March estimate of $271.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $63.3 billion, 3.6% above the revised March estimate of $61.2 billion.