NAHB analysis of Census construction spending data shows that total private residential construction spending for December increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $430 billion. On a month-over-month basis, private single-family spending was $231 billion, up by 1 percent over the revised November estimate. Private multifamily spending also increased to $53 billion, up by 2.66 percent. Over the same period, private construction spending on home improvements increased 0.12 percent.
Annually, the pace of multifamily is up 12 percent from the November 2014 estimate, and spending on single-family construction was 9 percent higher. Over the same period private construction spending on home improvements increased 5.9 percent.
The NAHB-constructed spending index indicates that recent gains have been driven by the steady increase in multifamily construction spending. The pace of the multifamily spending is gradually slowing. NAHB anticipates accelerating growth for single-family spending in 2015.
The pace of total nonresidential construction spending was down by 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in December, but it posted an annual increase from the revised December 2014 estimate of 8 percent. The largest contribution to this year-over-year gain was made by the class of manufacturing-related construction (45 percent increase), followed by lodging (31 percent increase) and Amusement and Recreation (24 percent increase).
This post was originally published on NAHB’s blog, Eye on Housing.
