WASHINGTON — Construction spending was up 0.3% in September, with a 0.4% decrease in private construction and a larger 2.6% increase in public construction, data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed.
Analysts had expected construction spending to be unchanged after a positive 0.5% reading for August. With the latest data, August construction was revised down to a 0.1% increase, while July spending was revised up slightly to 0.9% decrease from the 1.2% decline previously reported.
Private residential construction spending was flat in the month, with new home building rising 0.3% based on an MNI calculation. Single-family building rose 0.2%, while multi-family building saw a larger 0.6% gain from August. Residential construction excluding new homes, which captures remodelling was down 0.6% and up 9.6% year-over-year.
Private nonresidential construction was down 0.8% in September. There were increases in lodging, health care, education, and transportation that were offset by a large decline in manufacturing (3.6%), office, commercial, religious, amusement and recreation, communication, and power.
Public construction saw an increase of 2.6% in September, following a 0.7% rise in August. There were significant percentage gains in power and conservation and development, potentially due to hurricane recovery efforts. State and local government spending, the much larger portion of public construction, was up 2.5% after a 1.0% increase in August, while Federal government construction saw a rise of 3.4% in September after a 2.4% fall in August.
