WASHINGTON — Construction spending was flat in January, falling short of the expected 0.3% gain, this was mainly due to private construction seeing a 0.5% decline while public construction was able to negate the decline with a 1.8% rise, data released by the Commerce Department Thursday morning showed.
Analysts surveyed by MNI had expected total construction spending to rise by 0.3%, adding to December's 0.7% rise. However, with the latest data, December construction was revised up 1pp to a 0.8% gain, while November was revised up to a 1.2% increase from the 0.6% increase previously reported.
Private nonresidential construction saw a 1.5% decline in January. The categories were mixed, with increases in lodging, amusement and recreation, transportation, communication, and manufacturing. These were unable to offset the large declines in power (-6.2%), commercial (-2.7%), office, healthcare, education, and the religious category.
Private residential construction spending was up 0.3% in the month, while home building ex. new homes, also known as remodeling, rose 0.2% according to an MNI calculation. New homes saw a 0.3% rise, also based on an MNI calculation. Single-family building registered an increase of 0.6%, while multi-family building posted a 1.3% decrease from December.
Public construction spending saw a 1.8% gain in January following a sharp upward revision to a 1.8% gain in December from the 0.3% rise previously reported.
The gain in public construction reflected a 14.9% surge in Federal Government spending, jumping to the highest level seen since September 2011. State and local building also added to the large gain, albeit softer than Federal Government spending, with a 0.5% increase in the month.
