January Construction Spending Flat with December But Down 9.3 Percent YTY

The Department of Commerce said construction spending during January 2010 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $884.1 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised December estimate of $889.6 billion. The January figure is 9.3 percent below the January 2009 estimate of $974.3 billion.

Private construction. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $577.3 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised December estimate of $580.7 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $260.8 billion in January, 1.3 percent above the revised December estimate of $257.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $316.4 billion in January, 2.1 percent below the revised December estimate of $323.2 billion.

With the exception of residential construction and the power market segment, all major construction categories were down month-to-month in the private construction arena. Construction in the power segment was up 15.6 percent year-to-year.

Public construction. In January, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $306.9 billion, 0.7 percent below the revised December estimate of $308.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $80.3 billion, nearly the same as the revised December estimate of $80.3 billion. The amusement and recreation, power, highway and street and conservation market segments all showed positive gains over Dec. 2009. Several market segments in the nonresidential construction segment registered encouraging gains over Jan. 2009, including residential, office, commercial, transportation, power and highway and street.