By Dees Stribling | MHN Online
The Census Bureau reported on Thursday that construction spending during March was at an annualized rate of $942.5 billion, or 0.2 percent above the revised February rate. The March 2014 figure is 8.4 percent above the March 2013’s annualized rate of $869.2 billion.
Private construction spending was up; public spending was down. Spending on private construction projects in March came in at annualized rate of $679.6 billion, or 0.5 percent above the February rate. As for public construction spending, it was at an annualized rate $262.9 billion, or 0.6 percent below the February rate.
Among property types, new single-family home construction gained 0.2 percent for the month, while multifamily was up 4.4 percent. For the year, they were up 13.2 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively. Similarly, spending on office construction was up 13.5 percent year-over-year and other commercial projects (industrial, retail) gained 13.5 percent since last year.
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