The value of construction put-in-place declined 0.8% (-1.5% y/y) during May following a 0.4% April gain, revised from unchanged. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.

Construction in the private sector fell 0.7% (-5.4% y/y), down for the third straight month. Residential construction declined 0.6% (-9.6% y/y), continuing a slide that began the last year. The value of home improvements declined 1.2% (-17.3% y/y) after falling sharply in all but one month this year. Single-family building eased 0.8% (-7.5% y/y) and has been trending lower since early last year. Offsetting these declines was a 1.9% rise (9.2% y/y) in multi-family construction, the value of which hit a record high.

Private nonresidential building activity declined 0.9% (-0.1% y/y) during May after a 1.4% fall. Office construction was off 1.0% (+7.3% y/y) while multi-retail building declined 2.2% (-36.5% y/y). Health care construction eased 0.2% (+5.3% y/y) but transportation sector building rose 4.3% (19.8% y/y).

Public sector building activity declined 0.9% during September (+11.4% y/y) following a 4.5% jump. It has surged this year, up 14.5% since December. Construction of highways & streets has risen by one-quarter since December as rebuilding the nation's infrastructure gets some needed attention. It accounts for roughly one-third of the dollar value of public building activity. Transportation sector building also has been strong, up 12.3% year-to-date. Commercial construction has risen 10.6% so far this year and health care building is up 8.7% since December.

The construction spending figures, some of which date back to 1946, are in Haver's USECON database. The expectations reading can be found in the AS1REPNA database.