Construction Spending Declines 2.1% in January

Construction spending came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $883.3 billion January, a ""2.1 percent monthly drop"":http://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/release.pdf, the ""Census Bureau"":http://www.census.gov/ reported Friday.

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January's figure sits 7.1 percent above January 2012's spending estimate of $824.7 billion. December's estimate was revised upward to $902.6 billion from an originally reported $885.0 billion.

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The Census Bureau estimates spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $614.2 billion, 2.6 percent below the revised December estimate of $630.9 billion. Residential construction spending in the private sector was an estimated $304.6 billion, essentially flat month-over-month and up 22.0 percent year-over-year. Spending increased for both single- and multi-family private construction, rising to $150.5 billion and $26.5 billion, respectively.

Nonresidential construction fell 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $309.7 billion, meanwhile. Most of that went into the power, manufacturing, and commercial sectors, though the former two actually saw monthly declines in spending (commercial building spending increased 0.6 percent from December, the weakest positive growth out of any sector).

Spending on public construction also fell, dropping 1.0 percent month-over-month to an adjusted annualized rate of $269.0 billion. Public housing construction spending was at $6.6 billion, down 0.7 percent from December and 11.7 percent from January 2012.