Construction Spending - Jan 2024
Construction spending sees broad based slowdown in January likely impacted by weather
US Construction Spending (M/M) Jan: -0.3% (est 0.1%; prev 0.3%)
Jan construction spending saw total construction slip -0.33% m/m (dark blue lines), likely impacted by poor January weather, after a +0.75% gain in December (the best since April 2024), but the y/y picture remained positive at +0.96%, just off the best since November 2024.
Private construction fell -0.62% m/m after +1.0% in December(y/y slowed to -0.12%), with private residential -0.77% m/m after +2.52% in December (+2.28% y/y) as new single-family residential construction was -0.20% m/m (-5.77% y/y) & new multifamily construction was -0.69% m/m (+0.39% y/y) which may have been weather impacted.
Non-residential private construction was -0.43% m/m after -0.80% in December (-3.04% y/y) continuing to be dragged down by the largest component, manufacturing, which saw another sharp m/m decline, -1.97% m/m (-15.04% y/y), after -2.9% m/m in November and December. That is despite strong growth in AI related construction spending (data centers, etc.), but unfortunately I don’t have access to the granular data.
Public construction was the one bright spot up +0.62% m/m (after -0.14% in December) on the back of a strong +3.3% gain in the largest component highway & street (approx 28% of public spending) while education (the second largest at around 22% of public spending) slipped -0.2% m/m. Public construction spending remains solidly positive at +4.51% y/y, the best since June.
So outside of public construction we saw notable softening on the private side but it’s impossible to untangle the weather impact.
Note: All numbers m/m unless otherwise noted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Note that prices for this report are all nominal (not adjusted for inflation) and are not necessarily new construction unless noted, but also improvements to existing structures.
https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/release.pdf
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