U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in May, marking its first month-to-month decline since October 2022.
Spending in May was estimated at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $2.134 trillion, 0.1% below the revised April estimate. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an increase of 0.2%.
Year-over-year, the May figure was up 6.4%.
Year-to-date, spending through the first five months of 2024 was 8.8% above the same period in 2023.
Private Construction
May spending on private construction was at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $1.652 trillion, 0.3% below the revised April estimate. Residential construction was at a rate of $918 billion in May, 0.2% below the revised April estimate, while nonres construction’s rate of $734 billion was down 0.3%.
Public Construction
May spending on public construction was at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $488 billion, 0.5% above the revised April estimate. Educational construction was at a rate of $102 billion, 0.6% above the revised April estimate, while highway construction’s rate of $148 billion was down 0.5%.
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The value of 2023 total construction was up 7.0% from 2022.
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Annually, however, January’s figure was up 11.7%.
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Year-to-date, spending is pacing strong at 10.9% above the first four months in 2023.
