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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Fell Back in February, but Still in Recent Range
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index decreased 7.6% (-1.4% y/y) in February to 173.1...
European New Car Registrations Remarkably Strong Yet Forgettable
Car registrations are not going to be the only statistic that bears these dual and seemingly dueling characteristics...
U.S. Retail Sales Soar in March
Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments increased 9.8% (27.7% y/y) during March...
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounded in March
Industrial production rebounded in March, rising 1.4% m/m (+1.0% y/y)...
U.S. Home Builder Index Edges Higher in April
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.2% to 83 during April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Carol Stone January 2, 2015
The value of construction put-in-place decreased 0.3% (2.4% y/y) during November after a 1.2% advance in October, revised from 1.1%; the September move was revised more noticeably, to a 0.6% increase from a 0.1% decline. The November decline contrasted with expectations for a 0.3% increase in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Private sector construction outlays increased 0.3% in November (2.0% y/y), after October's 0.5% rise. Residential building activity advanced 0.9%, the same as October's revised gain, originally shown as 1.3%. New single-family building grew 1.0% (12.5% y/y), and multi-family building increased 0.8% (27.2% y/y). Spending on improvements rose 0.7% in November (-24.6% y/y). Nonresidential building activity was down 0.3% (+4.7% y/y), after October's 0.1% rise, revised from a 0.1% decrease. There were gains in power facility construction, 2.4% (-3.7% y/y), transportation facilities, 1.8% (+6.5% y/y) and communications infrastructure, 0.9% (-17.7% y/y). Education and manufacturing were largely unchanged at +0.1% (6.5% y/y for education and 21.1% y/y for factory building). There were declines in health care buildings, 4.1% (-7.8% y/y), amusement and recreation projects, also 4.1% (+0.4% y/y), office buildings, 2.1% (17.5% y/y) and commercial construction, 1.8% (+8.9% y/y).
Building in the public sector retreated anew in November, by 1.7% (+3.2% y/y), after October's positive 2.8%, revised from 2.3% reported initially. The public nonresidential segment saw, among major categories, declines in education, 2.5% (+2.3% y/y), water facilities, 1.7% (-1.6% y/y) and transportation facilities, 1.1% (+4.9% y/y). There were gains, though, in sewer and waste disposal, 2.7% (+14.1% y/y) and highways and streets, 0.3% (5.5% y/y).
The construction spending figures are in Haver's USECON database and the expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Construction Put in Place (%) | Nov | Oct | Sep | Y/Y | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | -0.3 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 9.2 | -2.1 |
Private | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 10.1 | 16.0 | -0.1 |
Residential | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.1 | -0.5 | 20.4 | 14.4 | 1.9 |
Nonresidential | -0.3 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 17.5 | -1.8 |
Public | -1.7 | 2.8 | -0.9 | 3.2 | -3.5 | -2.8 | -5.4 |