Announced in a February release by the U.S. Census Bureau, total construction spending in December was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,490.4 billion. This number comes in 1% above the revised November estimate and is a 5.7% increase year-to-year.

 

Private construction spending in December saw an increase of 1.2% above the revised November estimate and was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,137.6 billion. This includes residential construction with a 3.1% rise month-to-month and a dip from nonresidential construction down 1.7% from November.

Public construction spending also saw gains with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $352.8 billion; a 0.5% rise from November's revised estimate. Educational and highway construction sectors both saw growth with an increase of 0.6% and 0.9% month-to-month, respectively.

The total value of construction for the 2020 year saw overall growth with a yearly increase of 4.7%, leading with public safety while lodging and the amusement and recreation sectors were among the biggest drops. Total value of private construction in 2020 also saw a yearly increase of 4.7% with residential construction at a 11.6% gain and nonresidential construction at a 3% loss. The value of public construction in 2020 was 4.8% above 2019; up 3.6% for educational and 1.8% for highway.