Global| May 02 2005U.S. Construction Spending Led By Residential
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The total value of construction put in place rose 0.5% in March for the second month. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% gain. Private residential building activity rose 0.3% following an upwardly revised 1.1% increase in [...]
The total value of construction put in place rose 0.5% in March for the second month. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% gain.
Private residential building activity rose 0.3% following an upwardly revised 1.1% increase in February. The value of new single family building added 0.5% (13.2% y/y) to increases during the prior three months which ranged between 1.0% & 2.0%.
Nonresidential building recovered most of the prior month's decline as office building again was strong and rose 2.6% (5.6% y/y). Manufacturing building surged 11.3% (38.1% y/y) following two months of decline.
Public construction rose 0.3% following a downwardly revised gain in February. Spending on highways & streets, nearly one third of the value of public construction spending, slipped 0.4% (+2.1% y/y) following strong gains during the prior five months.
These more detailed categories represent the Census Bureau’s reclassification of construction activity into end-use groups. Finer detail is available for many of the categories; for instance, commercial construction is shown for Automotive sales and parking facilities, drugstores, building supply stores, and both commercial warehouses and mini-storage facilities. Note that start dates vary for some seasonally adjusted line items in 2000 and 2002 and that constant-dollar data are no longer computed.
| Construction Put-in-place | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.5% | 0.5% | 8.0% | 8.9% | 5.1% | 1.5% |
| Private | 0.5% | 0.4% | 10.4% | 10.7% | 6.0% | -0.2% |
| Residential | 0.3% | 1.1% | 12.1% | 13.9% | 13.1% | 8.4% |
| Nonresidential | 1.1% | -1.4% | 6.3% | 3.7% | -7.1% | -12.8% |
| Public | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 3.3% | 2.6% | 7.0% |
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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