The pace of construction on single-family homes by the nation’s home builders remained about the same between March and April but was nearly forty percent higher than a year ago according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Spending for private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $301.9 billion in April, down 0.1 percent from a revised estimate of $302.2 billion in March.

Total monthly spending by builders for both residential and non-residential private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $602.0 billion, up 1.0 percent from the revised estimate of $595.9 billion in March.

Builders spent 18.8 percent more on private residential construction in April than they did a year ago when $254.1 billion was allocated, while the total amount builders spent for all private construction was 9.0 percent higher than the $552.3 billion spent in April of last year.

Construction spending for new private single-family homes increased 1.4 percent from March to April with builders spending a seasonally adjusted $165.8 billion in April compared to $163.4 billion in March.

Single-family home construction spending was 38.6 percent higher than in April of 2012, when builders spent $119.6 billion on building new single-family homes.

Multi-family private construction spending was 3.4 percent higher than in March, climbing to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $29.2 billion. In March, builders spent $28.2 billion on multi-family construction.

Multi-family construction spending was 48.6 percent higher than in April of last year, when builders spent a seasonally adjusted $19.6 billion on multi-family dwellings.

The remainder of the private residential construction spending in April, $106.9 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 slightly less the $110.6 billion spent in March and down from the $114.9 billion spent in April of 2012.

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

Source:
Census Bureau

Reported by Shirley Allen