Construction Dips Slightly in May as Commercial Construction Still Sagging YTY

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during May 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $841.9 billion, 0.2 percent below the revised April estimate of $843.3 billion. The May figure is 8 percent below the May 2009 estimate of $915.4 billion. During the first 5 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $314.2 billion, 12 percent below the $356.9 billion for the same period in 2009.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $536.3 billion, 0.5 percent below the revised April estimate of $538.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $260.8 billion in May, 0.4 percent below the revised April estimate of $261.7 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $275.6 billion in May, 0.6 percent below the revised April estimate of $277.2 billion.

Public construction

In May, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $305.5 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised April estimate of $304.4 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.0 billion, 0.9 percent below the revised April estimate of $74.6 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $83.1 billion, 2.7 percent above the revised April estimate of $80.9 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — May 2010Value of Construction Put-in-Place ($ billions, seasonally adjusted annual rate)May '10₁Apr'09₂Mo. % ChangeMay '09YTY % ChangeTotal Construction 841.9 843.3 -0.2 915.4 -8.0 Total Private Construction 536.3 538.9 -0.5 600.7 -10.7 Residential 270.2 271.3 -0.4 241.6 11.9 New single family 121.5 120.6 0.8 92.6 31.2 New multi-family 13.1 13.9 -6.3 30.4 -57.1 Lodging 11.1 11.5 -3.9 29.1 -62.1 Office 36.9 37.4 -1.5 55.7 -33.8 Commercial 40.2 40.3 -0.3 59.0 -31.8 Health care 39.5 39.4 0.2 46.3 -14.6 Educational 87.5 88.6 -1.3 107.5 -18.6 Religious 5.7 5.5 4.2 6.0 -4.7 Public safety 12.7 12.9 -1.2 14.8 -14.4 Amusement and recreation 16.2 16.7 -2.5 19.7 -17.7 Transportation 42.4 43.3 -2.3 37.2 13.8 Communication 18.5 18.2 1.6 19.9 -6.9 Power 86.0 86.0 0 91.2 -5.7 Electric 60.2 60.8 -1.1 58.0 3.8 Manufacturing 43.6 44.4 -1.8 63.6 -31.4 Public Construction 305.5 304.4 0.4 314.7 -2.9 Residential 9.4 9.6 -1.4 7.1 32.9 Office 12.9 12.9 -0.3 14.5 -11.1 Commercial 2.4 2.4 1.9 3.9 -37.4 Health care 8.9 9.1 -2.2 9.5 -7 Educational 74.0 74.6 -0.9 89.6 -17.4 Public safety 12.4 12.5 -0.6 14.3 -13.4 Amusement and recreation 10.0 10.3 -3.2 11.3 -11.2 Transportation 34.2 35.1 -2.6 28.0 21.9 Power 9.7 10.0 -2.4 12.8 -24.2 Highway and street 83.1 80.9 2.7 78.8 5.5 Sewage and waste disposal 25.4 24.9 2.3 24.1 5.6 Water supply 15.5 14.7 5.2 14.9 4 Conservation and development 6.4 6.4 0.6 5.2 23.1

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.