The U.S. Census Bureau announced the following value put in place construction statistics for February 2017:
Total Construction
Construction spending during February 2017 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,192.8 billion, 0.8 percent (±1.0 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $1,183.8 billion. The February figure is 3.0 percent (±1.5 percent) above the February 2016 estimate of $1,157.7 billion. During the first 2 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $163.3 billion, 3.0 percent (±1.3 percent) above the $158.5 billion for the same period in 2016.
Private Construction
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $917.3 billion, 0.8 percent (± 1.2 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $910.0 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $484.7 billion in February, 1.8 percent (±1.3 percent) above the revised January estimate of $476.1 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $432.7 billion in February, 0.3 percent (± 1.2 percent)* below the revised January estimate of $433.8 billion.
Public Construction
In February, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $275.5 billion, 0.6 percent (±1.8 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $273.9 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $71.7 billion, 0.5 percent (±2.1 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $71.3 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $88.9 billion, 1.3 percent (±5.6 percent)* above the revised January estimate of $87.7 billion.
*The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. There is insufficient evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.
