Residential construction spending posted a small increase in March but was effectively unchanged over the beginning of 2014. The total value of private residential construction put-in-place increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $369.8 billion according to the latest Census estimates. The current reading is an increase of 0.8% from the revised February estimate of $367 billion but is 16% higher than one year ago.

Month-over-month single-family spending increased by 0.2% and the home improvement category increased by 0.6%. Multifamily construction was up with a relatively stronger month-over-month increase of 4.4%.

The figures show significant improvements in residential construction spending for all categories from the prior year. From March 2013, on a 3-month average basis, construction spending for single-family increased by 16.3%, multifamily increased by 30.8%, and remodeling increased by 12.8%.

Tags: construction spending, economics, home building, housing