The value of construction put in place matched Consensus expectations and rose 0.4% in August following an upwardly revised 0.3% July gain.

Private building activity rose 0.4% led by a 0.8% gain in nonresidential building. Lodging building rose a strong 3.2% (-8.3% y/y) and multi-retail building added 1.6% (30.7% y/y) to the 12.5% spike in July. Office construction fell 1.1% (+4.2% y/y) for the third decline in the last four months.

Residential building rose 0.2% as new single family building increased 0.3% (7.5% y/y) for the second consecutive month. The value of residential improvements rose a modest 0.4% (-0.4% y/y) but the value is off 14.3% from the February peak.

Public construction spending rose 0.5% following upwardly revised gains during prior months led by a 1.4% (14.9% y/y) jump in construction activity on highways & streets, nearly one third of the value of public construction spending.

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.