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Construction Spending Flat in March05-02-12 | News

Construction Spending Flat in March

After falling in January and February, construction spending leveled out in March.

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Construction spending during March 2012 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $808.1 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised February estimate of $807.3 billion, according to a Department of Commerce report released Tuesday. February saw a 1.4 percent decline from the month before, revised downward from an earlier estimate of 1.1 percent.

The March figure is 6.0 percent above the March 2011 estimate of $762.6 billion. From January to March, construction spending totaled $171.2 billion, 6.7 percent above the $160.4 billion for the same period in 2011.

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Spending on private construction hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $531.9 billion, above the revised February total of $528.1 billion and 11.3 percent higher than March 2011. Both residential and nonresidential construction spending were 0.7 percent above the February revision, at seasonally adjusted annual rates of $244.1 billion and $285.7 billion respectively.

In March, the public construction spending estimate was a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $276.2 billion, 1.1 percent below the revised February estimate of $279.1 billion. State and local governments decreased construction spending by 1.6% to $247.31 billion, the lowest since November 2006 and the fourth consecutive monthly drop in the category.