Despite ongoing travails within the residential construction industry, nonresidential construction spending has risen nearly 12 percent over the past year and was up 1.3 percent in March. This, according to the May 1 U.S. Department of Commerce construction spending report. The estimates were determined on a monthly, seasonally-adjusted basis.
Of the16 reported nonresidential sectors, 14 produced year-over-year spending gains, with the largest growth in office (39.6 percent), manufacturing (30.8 percent) and public safety (26.7 percent). As was the case last month, two nonresidential segments experienced reduced construction spending activity over the past 12 months. These were religious construction (down 15 percent) and water supply construction (down 9.8 percent). On a monthly basis, 12 of 16 nonresidential subsectors reported increased spending.
Total construction spending, both nonresidential and residential, was $1.124 trillion in March on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis. This represents a 1.1 percent decline from a month earlier and a 3.4 percent fall from March 2007. As has been the case in recent months, the decline in construction spending is explained more than fully by America’s faltering residential sector, in which spending declined 19.7 percent over the past 12 months.