The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in July was up 0.2 percent month-over-month. Spending on single-family residential construction rose 2.8 percent while spending on improvements was up 0.3 percent.
Multifamily construction spending higher
The value of total private residential construction put in place in July 2023 was reported to be $879.0 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was up $12.2 billion from June’s revised (+$10.5 billion) figure. Residential construction spending in July was reported to be down 5.5 percent year-over-year.
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in July was reported to be $133.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $298 million from the revised (+$1.4 billion) level for June. The value of multifamily housing construction put in place in July 2023 was 24.6 percent higher than the level of July 2022.
By comparison, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in July in buildings with 5 or more units fell 39 percent. Completions were 26.3 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
Governments were reported to have put $10.1 billion in residential construction in place in July on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in July was $389.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $10.7 billion from the revised (+$592 million) level for June but was down 15.2 percent from the level of July 2022.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in July was reported to be $346.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $1.1 billion from the revised (+$8.5 billion) level for June but was down $23.5 billion from the year-earlier level. 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 been trending higher. The value of new single-family residential construction put in place was up for the second month after falling steadily since June 2022. The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place has been reported to be in a narrow range around $350 billion for a full year.
The report from the Census Bureau also includes information on spending on other types of construction projects. The full report can be found here.
