March 2, 2012 (Shirley Allen)

Private residential construction spending improved for the fifth consecutive month in January, increasing 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $253.6 billion, up from a revised estimate of $249.2 billion in December according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Total monthly spending by builders for both residential and non-residential private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $538.7 billion, unchanged from the revised estimate of $538.7 billion in December.

The estimate for private residential construction spending in December was revised upward almost $8.0 billion and the estimate for all private construction was also revised upward by $9.0 billion.

Builders spent 6.7 percent more on private residential construction in January than they did a year ago when $237.6 billion was spent, while the total amount builders spent for all private construction was 11.7 percent higher than the $482.1 billion spent in January of last year.

Construction spending for new private single-family homes increased 1.8 percent from December to January with builders spending a seasonally adjusted $113.9 billion in January. The estimate for December was revised upward from $109.3 billion to $111.2 billion.

Single-family home construction spending was 5.5 percent higher than in January of 2011, when builders spent $108.0 billion on building new single-family homes.

Multi-family private construction spending was 0.7 percent higher than in December, climbing to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $16.2 billion. The estimate for December was revised downward from just over $16.1 billion to just under $16.1 billion.

Multi-family construction spending was 20.0 percent higher than in January of last year, when builders spent a seasonally adjusted $13.5 billion on multi-family dwellings.

The remainder of the private residential construction spending in January, $123.5 billion, was money spent for any type of construction to an existing structure ranging from remodeling to additions to swimming pools to replacement of major systems such as HVAC systems. This was an increase from a upwardly revised $121.9 billion in December and up from the $116.1 billion spent in January of 2011.

Tags: residential construction spending, single-family homes, multi-family dwellings, seasonally adjusted annual rate, remodeling, additions

Source:
Census Bureau