by Calculated Risk July 1, 2024, 10:15 AM
From the Census Bureau report Overall construction spending decreased.
Construction spending in May 2024 The seasonally adjusted annual growth rate was $2.1398 trillion, 0.1 percentage point lower than the revised estimate in April. $2.1421 trillion. The May figure is 6.4% higher than the May 2023 estimate of $2.1118 trillion.
Add emphasis
Private spending has fallen and public spending has increased.
Spending on private construction rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.6521 trillion, 0.3 percent below the revised April estimate of $1.6567 trillion.
The seasonally adjusted estimated annual rate of public construction spending in May was $487.6 billion, 0.5 percent higher than the revised April estimate of $485.4 billion.
Click on the graph to enlarge the image.
This chart shows private residential and nonresidential construction spending and public spending since 1993. Note: Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Housing (red) spending is 6.3% below its most recent 2022 peak.
Nonresidential (blue) spending is down 0.8% from its January 2024 peak.
Public construction spending reached a record high.
The second chart shows the year-over-year change in construction spending.
Compared to the previous year, Private housing construction spending increased 6.5%Non-residential spending increased 4.1% year-on-year. Public spending increased 9.7% year-on-year.
That was below the consensus forecast of a 0.3% increase in spending, but total construction spending was revised upwards over the past two months.
This is probably just the beginning of weakness in private nonresidential construction.
