Private residential construction spending reached the highest rate since November 2007, said the National Association of Home Builders Friday.
US Private Residential Construction Spending: February 2016
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending for February increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$448 billion, up by 0.9 per cent over January’s revised estimate.
Meanwhile the nonresidential construction spending slipped 1.4 per cent after a huge increase in January.
Within the private residential construction spending, single-family spending stood at US$235 billion, up by 1.2 per cent from last January estimate and 10.6 per cent higher annually. Multifamily spending continued its strong growth and reached US$59.7 billion, exceeding the January record of US$59.2 billion. This was a 24.2 per cent increase from the February 2015 estimate. Private construction spending on home improvements rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$153 billion.
Year-over-year, this adds up to a steady 6 per cent increase.
The pace of total nonresidential construction spending retreated from a huge increase in the January estimate. It slipped down 1.4 per cent on a monthly basis, but was 10 per cent higher than the 2015 estimate. The largest contribution to this year-over-year nonresidential spending gain was made by the class of lodging (30 per cent increase), followed by office (40 per cent increase) and highway and street (25 per cent increase).