By Dees Stribling | MHN Online
The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that U.S. construction spending during August came in at an annualized rate of $961 billion, 0.8 percent below the July rate. Still, the August 2014 figure is 5 percent above the August 2013 annualized rate of $915.3 billion. Both private and public spending dropped this August.
Spending on private construction fell 0.8 percent in August compared with July. Residential construction dropped 0.1 percent month-over-month, while nonresidential construction dropped more: 1.4 percent below July. Government spending on construction projects was down as well, declining 0.9 percent for the month.
Since this time last year, office construction spending is up 18.9 percent, and hotel construction gained 10.2 percent, but the big winner was multifamily construction, up 35.9 percent. Also, construction of manufacturing-related facilities gained up 14.5 percent year-over-year. On the other hand, spending on communications infrastructure dropped 10.5 percent since last year, and a little surprisingly, healthcare construction spending was off 6.6 percent.
