Dive Brief:
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Construction spending rose 0.8% from January to February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.192 trillion, ahead of the upward-revised $1.183 trillion in January, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
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Private residential construction rose 1.8% during the period to a rate of $484.7 billion, while private nonresidential construction fell 0.3% from January to February to a rate of $432.7 billion. Within residential, single-family rose 1.2%, while multifamily increased 2.0%. Public construction grew by 0.6% between January and February.
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February's construction spending figure is 3.0% ahead of the year-ago mark.
Dive Insight:
February's report comes on the heels of a two-month downturn in industry spending that slowed the momentum of a post-recession high reached in November. Industry observers have been hopeful for future growth in the sector for 2017. Economists with Dodge Data & Analytics previously forecast that starts this year could reach a value of $712.9 billion.
As another confidence booster, housing starts jumped 3% in February, coming in just ahead of analyst predictions and representing the second-highest rate of starts in a decade. Architecture billings, meanwhile, swung back in February to a reading of 50.7, marking a return to positive territory.
Still, monthly spending figures will remain unpredictable amid the ongoing labor shortage and uncertainty around large-scale federal infrastructure projects like the U.S.–Mexico border wall. While observers have hoped to see a boost in infrastructure spending resulting from the Trump administration's campaign pledges, the absence of certain details and contention surrounding the funding of such projects could hamper future spending.
