Most construction spending falls in March; Industrial Info reports drop in projects
The first impacts of the pandemic on construction spending showed up in the Census Bureau’s data for March, posted on Friday. Although total spending put in place increased 0.9% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate from February and 4.7% from March 2019, the increase was concentrated in the volatile residential improvements segment, which jumped by $17 billion (10%) over the month. All other categories—public, private nonresidential and new residential construction—slipped by a combined 0.5% for the month. Notably, spending declined from February in 10 of the 11 private nonresidential categories in Census’s press release. The exception was communication construction, which edged up 0.3%, possibly reflecting spending on facilities to meet demand for better connectivity for home-based work, education and entertainment.