Global| Jun 01 2015U.S. Construction Spending Growth Strengthens
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
Momentum in the building sector recovered of late, perhaps helped by better weather. The value of construction put-in-place increased 2.2% during April (4.8% y/y) following a 0.5% March rise, revised from -0.6%. Three-month growth of [...]
Momentum in the building sector recovered of late, perhaps helped by better weather. The value of construction put-in-place increased 2.2% during April (4.8% y/y) following a 0.5% March rise, revised from -0.6%. Three-month growth of 14.4% (AR) was the strongest since late-2013. A 0.6% April rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.
Public sector building jumped 3.3% (3.5% y/y) and rose at a 16.6% rate during the last three months. Highway & street construction increased 8.5% (4.6% y/y); office construction rose 6.2% (4.2% y/y) while educational building gained 3.6% (1.6% y/y). Water supply construction improved 1.1% (0.6% y/y) but commercial building fell 8.9% (+12.4% y/y). Power construction gave up 15.0% (-31.3% y/y) while health care building slipped 0.6% (-11.1% y/y).
Building activity in the private sector improved 1.8% (5.3% y/y) and increased at a 13.6% rate during the last three months. Nonresidential building activity jumped 3.1% (13.4% y/y) with strong growth spreading across most sectors. Further improvement was evident in residential construction activity which gained 0.6% (-2.1% y/y). Single-family building strengthened 1.6% (9.2% y/y) and multi-family construction jumped 3.1% (24.6% y/y). Working the other way, however, spending on improvements continued down by 3.0% (-27.0% 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 (%) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 5.7 | 9.2 |
| Private | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 5.3 | 8.0 | 10.1 | 16.0 |
| Residential | 0.6 | -1.0 | 0.2 | -2.1 | 5.1 | 20.4 | 14.4 |
| Nonresidential | 3.1 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 13.4 | 11.2 | 0.6 | 17.5 |
| Public | 3.3 | -0.4 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | -3.5 | -2.8 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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