Recent Updates
- Belgium: Business Survey (Feb)
- Canada: Retail Trade (Dec)
- Canada Regional: Retail Trade by Province (Dec)
- Chile: Producer Price Index (Jan)
- Hungary: Construction Permits (Dec)
- North Macedonia: Depository Corporations Survey (Jan)
- Euro area: Final HICP (Jan)
- Slovenia: Construction Survey (Feb)
- Serbia: PPI Industrial Prices (Jan)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Durable Goods Report: Strong Headline, Weaker Details
New orders for durable goods increased 1.2% (3.5% year-on-year) during December following an upwardly-revised 1.0% gain...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Slide
The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell a greater-than-expected 1.2% in January...
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Tumbles in February
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported manufacturing conditions weakened considerably in February with its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Decline
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 216,000 in the week ended February 16, down 23,000 from the previous week's...
EMU PMIs Continue to Move Together...Mostly Lower
The composite EMU German and French indices all rose by small amounts...
by Tom Moeller April 3, 2017
The value of construction put-in-place gained 0.8% during February (+3.0% y/y), after easing 0.4% in January and 0.2% during December. The increase compares to expectations for a 1.0% rise in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Despite these lackluster monthly performances, the dollar level of construction activity was near the all-time high and was nearly two-thirds higher than the 2010 low.
Private sector construction activity increased 0.8% (6.9% y/y) in February following no change in January. Residential building gained 1.8% (6.4% y/y), the strongest rise in three months. Multi-family building rose 2.0% (10.6% y/y) after a 4.0% rise. Single-family building increased for a second straight month by 1.2% (3.4% y/y). The value of improvements jumped 2.7% (9.6% y/y) and reversed the prior month's drop. Nonresidential building activity eased 0.3% (+7.5% y/y), about as it did in January. Office construction rebounded 0.5% (24.8% y/y), but commercial construction eased 0.8% (+13.6% y/y) after a 0.3% decline. These dips follow out-sized strength in 2016. Manufacturing sector construction declined 1.7% (-9.8% y/y) following no change. Power plant construction strengthened 3.0% (9.4% y/y) to the highest level since mid-2014.
Public sector building activity improved 0.6% (-8.0% y/y) following three months of decline. Educational facility spending improved 0.5% (0.5% y/y) after a 1.8% increase. Transportation facilities building gained 0.8% (-10.4% y/y) and office building fell 2.9% (-7.8% y/y). Highways and streets, about one-third of total public construction, increased 1.3% (-5.1% y/y) after January's 0.1% uptick.
The construction spending figures are in Haver's USECON database and the expectations reading is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Construction Put in Place (SA, %) | Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb Y/Y | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 0.8 | -0.4 | -0.2 | 3.0 | 4.8 | 10.3 | 11.4 |
Private | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 12.5 | 15.4 |
Residential | 1.8 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 6.4 | 5.6 | 16.8 | 14.6 |
Nonresidential | -0.3 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 16.3 |
Public | 0.6 | -1.9 | -2.6 | -8.0 | -0.4 | 4.5 | 1.9 |