Construction spending remained unremarkable in February, declining fractionally from January (-0.1 percent) while maintaining a 5.2 percent improvement year-over-year. Notably, however, residential construction is no longer driving the industry numbers. It isn’t even holding its own. Total spending on all types of construction in February was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.844 trillion compared to $1.845 trillion the previous month and $1.753 trillion in February 2022. On an unadjusted basis, the total outlay for the month was $130.004 billion. Year-to-date (YTD) spending totals $260.8 billion, a 5.9 percent increase over the first two months of 2022. [constructionspendingchart] Total privately funded construction spending was at a rate of $1.453 trillion, almost identical to spending in January, but up 3.3 percent on an annual basis. On an unadjusted basis, the $104.765 billion spent is about a billion below the previous month. YTD spending, $204.774 billion, is 4.3 percent higher than during the same period a year earlier. Privately funded residential spending was down 0.6 percent from January to February and the seasonally adjusted rate of $852.130 billion is 5.7 percent off the February 2022 pace. New single-family construction at a rate of $$368.359 billion is down 1.8 percent from the prior month and a whopping 21.4 percent year-over-year. Multifamily spending slowed by 1.4 percent in February but remained 22.2 percent higher than the previous February.
