December Construction Spending Flat with November But Down 9.9 Percent YTY

Construction spending during December 2009 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $902.5 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised November estimate of $913.2 billion, according to the Department of Commerce. The December figure is 9.9 percent below the December 2008 estimate of $1,002.1 billion. The value of construction in 2009 was $939.1 billion, 12.4 percent below the $1,072.1 billion spent in 2008.

Private construction

Spending on private construction overall was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $593 billion in December, 1.2 percent below the revised November estimate of $599.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $260.4 billion in December, 2.8 percent below the revised November estimate of $268.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $332.5 billion in December, 0.2 percent above the revised November estimate of $331.8 billion.

The value of private construction in 2009 was $621.8 billion, 18.8 percent below the $766.2 billion spent in 2008. Residential construction in 2009 was $252.2 billion, 28 percent below the 2008 figure of $350.1 billion and nonresidential construction was $369.6 billion, 11.2 percent below the $416.1 billion in 2008.

Public construction

In December, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $309.6 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised November estimate of $313.3 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $80.3 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised November estimate of $80.6 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $83.7 billion, 2.3 percent below the revised November estimate of $85.7 billion.

Value Of New Construction Put In Place — December 2009

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

Dec. 2009_p Mo. % change Nov. 2009_r Dec. 2008 YTY change Total Construction 902,545 -1.2 913,191 1,002,128 -9.9 Total Private Construction₁ 592,957 -1.2 599,873 696,560 -14.9 Residential 260,448 -2.8 268,075 292,307 -10.9 Nonresidential 332,510 0.2 331,798 404,253 -17.7 Lodging 17,065 -7.6 18,478 31,799 -46.3 Office 33,426 2.1 32,748 51,584 -35.2 Commercial 44,403 0.6 44,126 70,965 -37.4 Health care 35,426 2.5 34,561 40,409 -12.3 Educational 15,918 4.2 15,278 18,273 -12.9 Religious 6,065 2.7 5,903 7,278 -16.7 Amusement and recreation 5,854 1.2 5,785 9,224 -36.5 Transportation 8,538 -2.1 8,721 9,953 -14.2 Communication 20,308 3.5 19,622 21,921 -7.4 Power 81,058 2.6 79,024 71,059 14.1 Manufacturing 62,728 -5.0 66,039 70,165 -10.6 Total Public Construction₂ 309,588 -1.2 313,319 305,568 1.3 Residential 8,252 1.1 8,159 7,082 16.5 Nonresidential 301,337 -1.3 305,159 298,486 1.0 Office 15,751 0.7 15,641 15,041 4.7 Commercial 3,787 3.4 3,663 3,167 19.6 Health care 10,034 4.3 9,618 8,791 14.1 Educational 80,258 -0.4 80,593 83,572 -4.0 Public safety 13,494 3.1 13,083 14,147 -4.6 Amusement and recreation 10,052 -5.3 10,618 11,119 -9.6 Transportation 26,945 -1.9 27,479 22,891 17.7 Power 10,674 9.0 9,793 9,771 9.2 Highway and street 83,743 -2.3 85,671 80,724 3.7 Sewage and waste disposal 24,369 -3.9 25,366 25,435 -4.2 Water supply 15,083 -8.3 16,443 16,936 -10.9 Conservation and development 6,366 -0.8 6,417 6,114 4.1

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.