Widget Image
Follow PPD Social Media
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
HomeNewsEconomyConstruction Spending Unexpectedly Gains Again in February, Beating Forecasts

Construction Spending Unexpectedly Gains Again in February, Beating Forecasts

New residential construction, hew homes, housing starts, building permits, depicted on blueprints. (Photo: AdobeStock)

January Construction Spending Revised Even Higher, From 1.3% to Strong 2.5%

New residential construction, hew homes, housing starts, building permits, depicted on blueprints. (Photo: AdobeStock)
New residential construction, hew homes, housing starts, building permits, depicted on blueprints. (Photo: AdobeStock)

Construction spending continued to gain solidly during February, gaining 1.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,320.3 billion. That’s (±0.8%) above the revised January estimate of $1,307.3 billion, and beating the forecast range.

The consensus forecast was calling for a -0.2% reading, ranging from a low of -1.0% to a high of 0.4%.

The February figure is 1.1% (±1.5%) above the February 2018 estimate of $1,305.5 billion. During the first two months of this year, construction spending amounted to $181.9 billion, 1.4% (±1.3%) above the $179.4 billion for the same period in 2018.

The month of January was revised even higher from 1.3% to a very strong 2.5%.

Private Construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $994.5 billion, 0.2% (±0.8%) above the revised January estimate of $993.0 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $540.9 billion in February, 0.7% (±1.3%) above the revised January estimate of $536.9 billion.

Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $453.6 billion in February, 0.5% (±0.8%) below the revised January estimate of $456.0 billion.

Public Construction

In February, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $325.8 billion, 3.6% (±1.6%) above the revised January estimate of $314.4 billion.

Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $76.3 billion, 0.8% (±2.0%) above the revised January estimate of $75.7 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $111.1 billion, 9.5% (±5.3%) above the revised January estimate of $101.5 billion.

Written by

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.

No comments

leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

People's Pundit Daily
You have %%pigeonMeterAvailable%% free %%pigeonCopyPage%% remaining this month. Get unlimited access and support reader-funded, independent data journalism.

Start a 14-day free trial now. Pay later!

Start Trial