Home Improvement Spending Higher than Residential Construction in July

September 2, 2011 (Shirley Allen)

Private residential construction spending declined 1.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $248.1 billion in July from a revised estimate of $251.7 billion in June according to the U.S. Census Bureau as the total amount spent on home improvements exceeded the amount builder's spent on new private residential construction.

Monthly spending by builders for all private construction types was 0.8 percent lower than the revised estimate of $519.0 billion in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $514.5 billion in July.

Private residential construction in July was 4.1 percent higher than in July of 2010 when builders spent a seasonally adjusted $245.8 billion and total private construction spending was 5.5 percent higher than last July’s seasonally adjusted rate of $487.6 billion.

Private construction spending on new single-family homes was virtually unchanged from June to July with builders spending a seasonally adjusted $105.1 billion in July. June’s estimate was downwardly revised from $105.3 billion to $105.0 billion. Single-family home construction spending was down 8.4 percent compared to July of 2010, when builders spent a seasonally adjusted $114.8 billion.

Multi-family private construction spending increased 1.4 percent from June to July, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $14.0 billion. June’s estimate was upwardly revised from $13.6 billion to $13.8 billion. Multi-family construction spending was down 6.0 percent compared to July 2010 which saw spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $14.9 billion.

The remainder of the private residential construction spending in July, $129.0 billion, was money spent for any type of construction to an existing structure ranging from remodeling to additions to swimming pools to replacement of major systems such as HVAC systems. This was a decrease from an upwardly revised $132.9 billion in June and an increase from $105.8 billion spent in July of 2010.

Tags: Census Bureau, residential construction spending, single-family homes, multi-family dwellings, seasonally adjusted annual rate, remodeling, additions

Source:
Census Bureau
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