Global| Dec 01 2010U.S. Construction Spending Increases Modestly
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The value of construction put-in-place rose 0.7% during October following an upwardly revised 0.7% September gain. The figure was better than Consensus expectations for a 0.4% decline. These recent, small monthly changes stand in [...]
The value of construction put-in-place rose 0.7% during October following an
upwardly revised 0.7% September gain. The figure was better than Consensus
expectations for a 0.4% decline. These recent, small monthly changes stand in
sharp contrast to larger movements earlier in 2010. To
the upside has been residential building activity which gained 2.5% in October.
Spending on improvements led with a 6.2% gain (-10.7% y/y). Multi-family
building also increased 3.2% but it remained off by one-third from last year.
Single-family building fell another 1.2% (-3.0% y/y) after its improvement late
last year and early this year.
Nonresidential building slipped 0.7% after two months of slight increase. The y/y decline moderated to 20.7% as building in the transportation sector fell a modest 2.6% y/y. Power (-9.0% y/y) and communication (-9.0% y/y) sector declines also moderated. Continued strong declines in office (-32.0% y/y) and multi-retail (-17.1% y/y) and other commercial offset the one-third y/y gain in automotive sector building.
Public construction activity rose 0.4% during October and 2.2% y/y. Power facilities building grew by one-half from last year; also firm were sewerage & waste disposal (13.6% y/y), water supply (4.2% y/y), health care (2.9% y/y) and highways & streets (1.5% y/y). Highway construction amounts to one-quarter of the dollars spent on public sector building. Working the other way were commercial (-12.2% y/y), office (-13.0% y/y), and educational building (-7.4% y/y) where growth was negative.
The construction put-in-place figures are available in Haver's USECON database.
Why Aren't Banks Lending More? The Role of Commercial Real Estate from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is available here.
| Construction Put in Place (%) | October | September | August | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.7 | 0.7 | -0.9 | -9.3 | -14.9 | -7.5 | -1.4 |
| Private | 0.8 | 0.4 | -2.8 | -15.6 | -21.9 | -12.2 | -5.5 |
| Residential | 2.5 | 0.6 | -6.2 | -9.2 | -29.9 | -29.0 | -19.7 |
| Nonresidential | -0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | -20.7 | -15.0 | 10.5 | 23.9 |
| Public | 0.4 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 6.6 | 13.1 |
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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