Real estate construction spending levels off in October

Construction spending during October 2004 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.01 trillion, nearly the same (plus or minus 1.6 percent) as the revised September estimate, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. The October figure is 7.1 percent (plus or minus 2.1 percent) above the October 2003 estimate of $942.2 billion.

During the first 10 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $832.4 billion, 9 percent (plus or minus 1.4 percent) above the $763.6 billion for the same period in 2003.

Private residential construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $549.4 billion in October, 0.3 percent (plus or minus 1.3 percent) below the revised September estimate of $551.1 billion and 10.9 percent above October 2003 spending.

Month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements that may be irregular, the Census Bureau reported. It may take two months to establish an underlying trend for total construction and as long as eight months for specific categories of construction.

More detailed data and a discussion of methodologies are available online at http://www.census.gov/constructionspending.

***

Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to glenn@inman.com or call (510) 658-9252, ext. 137.

All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.