Residential Construction Spending Turned Positive Again in November

Construction spending increased slightly in November compared to October and increased its lead year-over-year from the 7.5 percent improvement reported for October. The U.S. Census Bureau said construction put in place for all sectors in November was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.626 trillion compared to $1.619 trillion the prior month, an 0.4 percent change. Compared to November 2020, the total was up 9.3 percent. Total spending for the year-to-date (YTD) totals $1.463 trillion . This is 7.9 percent more than was spent in the first 11 months of 2020. Private sector spending was at an annual rate of $1.274 trillion during the month, up 0.6 percent from the October rate and 12.5 percent above spending a year earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the private sector spent $107.605 billion and for the YTD a total of $1.142 trillion. The latter number represents 12.0 percent growth over the $1.020 trillion spent during the same period in 2020. Residential construction spending had been somewhat of a drag on overall growth for the prior several months, but improved in November. Total construction spending, a seasonally adjusted $796.308 billion, was 0.9 percent higher than annualized spending in October and up 16.3 percent year-over-year. The improvement was primarily due to new single-family home building which increased 1.2 percent to a rate of $421.048 billion, 19.4 percent higher than in November 2020. Multi-family construction slipped 0.3 percent for the month but was up 9.6 percent on an annual basis.