In the News – Multifamily Construction Spending Hits New Record High

According to estimates from Census Construction Spending data, total private residential construction spending edged up 0.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $459.5 billion.

Multifamily construction spending continued its record breaking pace and reached $62.1 billion, up by 2.0% over the revised August estimates. Single-family construction spending stood at $236.6 billion, slightly up from the upwardly revised August estimate. This marks a reversal of the downward trend in earlier months. Home improvements rose to $155.0 billion, up by 0.5% over last month.

Single-family spending slipped down by 2.9% over a year ago. Multifamily spending, however, was 9.1% higher since September 2015. Spending on home improvements increased by 4.0% on a year-over-year basis.

The NAHB construction spending index, which is shown in the graph below (the base is January 2000), illustrates the strong growth in new multifamily construction since 2010, while new single-family construction spending has slowed down.

To see the full article along with graphs, check out EyeOnHousing.org