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- US: New Residential Construction (Dec)
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Economy in Brief
U.S. Retail Sales Increase Steadily
Total retail sales increased 0.3% (5.8% y/y) during December...
U.S. Home Builder Sentiment Eases
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index slipped during January...
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Strengthens Unexpectedly; Pricing Improves
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index surged to 17.0 during January...
U.S. Business Inventories Slip While Sales Rise
total business inventories decreased 0.2% (2.8% y/y) after October's 0.1% rise...
U.S. Initial Claims for Jobless Insurance Ease and Continuing Claims Fall Back
Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 10,000 to 204,000 (-6.0% y/y) in the week ended January 11...
by Tom Moeller March 1, 2012
After several months of strong increase, construction spending slipped in January. The 0.1% decline followed a 1.4% December rise and a 1.9% November gain that was revised up sharply. Gains in the Summer also were solid. Consensus expectations were for a 0.8% January increase and the level of activity was at its highest since December 2009.
Private sector spending slipped marginally due to a 1.5% decline (+16.6% y/y) in nonresidential building. Residential building rose 1.8% (6.7% y/y) as single-family construction increased 2.5% (5.5% y/y) and multi-family rose 0.7% (20.0% y/y). The value of spending on improvements increased 1.3% (6.4% y/y). The value of public sector building activity slipped 0.2% in January but the y/y decline stabilized at -0.5% following the worst comparison of -8.3% this past Summer.
The construction put-in-place figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in Haver's AS1REPNA database.
| Construction Put in Place (%) | Jan | Dec | Nov | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | -0.1 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 7.1 | -1.7 | -11.3 | -15.3 |
| Private | -0.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 11.7 | 1.0 | -15.2 | -22.4 |
| Residential | 1.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 6.7 | -0.7 | -2.9 | -29.9 |
| Nonresidential | -1.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 16.6 | 2.5 | -24.0 | -16.0 |
| Public | -0.2 | 0.7 | 2.3 | -0.5 | -6.0 | -3.9 | 2.1 |
