Eye On Housing
NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending for June increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $378 billion. On a month-over-month basis, private multifamily spending increased to $52 billion, up by 2.82% over the revised May estimate, while private single-family spending was $211 billion, a slight decline of 0.27% after two months of consecutive gains.
Annually, multifamily spending rose 23.7% from the revised 2014 estimate and spending on single-family construction was 12.8% higher than June 2014.
The NAHB-constructed spending index, which is shown in the graph below (the base is January 2000), indicates that recent gains have been driven by the steady increase in multifamily construction spending. The pace of the multifamily spending is however gradually slowing. NAHB anticipates growing increases in single-family spending in 2015.
The pace of total nonresidential construction spending decreased by 0.03% monthly in June, but increased by 11.5% annually from June 2014. The largest contribution to this year-over-year nonresidential spending gain was made by the class of manufacturing-related construction (62% increase), followed by amusement/recreation (48.2% increase) and lodging (41.9% increase).
How can the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics report that the construction industries have an underutilization of labor (actual unemployment) at 9.8% projected rate for June 2015???
You might read our last JOLTS update on various employment data, including rising job openings for construction. https://eyeonhousing.org/2015/07/construction-job-openings-increase-in-may/
June’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the construction occupation was 7%.