The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in April was up 0.6 percent month-over-month. Spending on single-family continued to fall while spending on improvements was up 1.7 percent.
Multifamily spending inches higher
The value of total private residential construction put in place in April 2023 was reported to be $845.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was up $3.8 billion from March’s revised figure. In addition, March’s residential spending was revised upward by $13.9 billion in this month’s report while February’s residential spending was revised upward by $12.6 billion. Residential construction spending in April was reported to be down 9.2 percent year-over-year.
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in April was reported to be $125.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $744 million from the revised (+$1.6 billion) level for March. The value of multifamily housing construction put in place in April 2023 was 24.9 percent higher than the level of April 2022.
By comparison, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in April in buildings with 5 or more units fell for the second month in a row. Completions were reported to be down 17 percent month-over-month. However, completions were 24 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
State and local governments were reported to have put $9.8 billion in residential construction in place in April on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in April was $362.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $2.7 billion (0.8 percent) from the revised (+$1.2 billion) level for March and was down 24.7 percent from the level of April 2022.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in April was reported to be $357.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up 2.1 percent from the year-earlier level and was up $5.8 billion from the revised (+$13.5 billion) level for March. The Census Bureau does not separate out improvements for single-family and multifamily residential buildings.
Charting the data
The following chart shows the value of residential construction put in place each month since January 2012. The chart illustrates that the reported value of new multifamily residential construction put in place has continued its steady rise while the two other categories of residential construction spending are now off of their recent highs. The value of single-family residential construction put in place has continued to decline and is now nearly 25 percent below the peak level it reached in April 2022. The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place is also well below its 2022 high but it has shown an upward trend over the last 3 months.
The report from the Census Bureau also includes information on spending on other types of construction projects. The full report can be found here.
