Recent Updates
- Israel: Foreign Exposure (May)
- Consumer Confidence (Jun)
- South Africa: Fuel Prices (May)
- Lebanon: BOP (Q3)
- Thailand: PPI (Jun)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Dips in May After Seven Straight Monthly Rises
The value of construction put-in-place ticked down 0.1% m/m (+9.7% y/y) in May...
Developed Economies Manufacturing Sectors Hit Hard in June
Among the 18 countries in the table that report manufacturing PMI data in June, only four show m/m improvements...
U.S. Income Gained, Spending Slowed in May
Personal income growth remained solid while household spending slowed in May...
U.S. Chicago Business Barometer Falls Back in June to the Lowest Level since Aug. '20
The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell to 56.0...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Edged Down
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended June 25 declined by 2,000 to 231,000...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller December 3, 2018
The value of construction put-in-place eased 0.1% (+4.9% y/y) during October. The weakening was the same as in September, revised from no change. It followed a 0.4% August decline, revised from +0.8%. A 0.4% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
In the private sector, activity fell 0.4% (+3.9% y/y) and reversed a 0.4% September gain. Residential building activity deceased 0.5% (+1.8% y/y) following a 0.1% uptick. Single-family construction fell 0.5% (+2.4% y/y), down for seven months in the last eight. Multi-family construction improved 1.0% (3.2% y/y) after a 7.1% surge. Home improvement activity fell 0.9% (+0.4% y/y) and has been falling all year.
Nonresidential construction in October fell 0.3% (+6.4% y/y) after a 0.7% rise. Power facility construction fell 2.4% (+9.4% y/y), down for the fourth month in the last five. The value of commercial building activity declined 0.6% (+0.6% y/y) after a 0.4% increase. Construction of educational buildings improved 0.7% (8.2% y/y) after an 8.7% jump. Easing by 0.9% (-0.7% y/y) was health care building, about the same as in September. The value of transportation building declined 0.9% (+7.8% y/y) and reversed the prior month's increase. Factory sector construction fell 1.0% (+3.1% y/y) following a 0.5% rise. Office construction rose an improved 3.1% (16.3% y/y).
Construction activity in the public sector increased 0.8% (8.5% y/y) in October, after a 1.5% decline. Commercial construction rose 9.5% (26.4% y/y) after a 5.9% increase. Power facility construction increased 1.8% (-1.8% y/y) after two months of sharp decline. Highway and street building, which accounts for about one-third of nonresidential building, eased 0.1% (+5.2% y/y) following a 2.0% drop. Educational building gained 2.6% (9.2% y/y) following a 1.6% rise.
The construction spending figures, some of which date back to 1946 (e.g., public construction figures), are in Haver's USECON database and the expectations figure can be found in the AS1REPNA database.
Construction Put in Place (SA, %) | Oct | Sep | Aug | Oct Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | -0.1 | -0.1 | -0.4 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 10.7 |
Private | -0.4 | 0.4 | -1.3 | 3.9 | 7.1 | 9.2 | 12.9 |
Residential | -0.5 | 0.1 | -2.6 | 1.8 | 12.4 | 10.7 | 14.2 |
Nonresidential | -0.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 7.7 | 11.5 |
Public | 0.8 | -1.5 | 2.4 | 8.5 | -3.2 | 0.7 | 5.1 |