The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in January was down 0.4 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on single-family residential construction was reported to rise 0.6 percent while spending on improvements was down 0.1 percent.
The value of total private residential construction put in place in January 2024 was reported to be $900.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was reported to be up $1.8 billion month-over-month. However, December’s figure was revised lower by $12.6 billion, so the reported value of residential construction put in place is $10.9 billion lower than that reported last month. Residential construction spending in January was reported to be up 5.2 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily construction spending edges lower
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in January was reported to be $134.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $529 million from the revised level for December. In addition, the December figure was revised lower by $926 million, so the preliminary multifamily construction spending figure reported this month is $1.46 billion, or 1.1 percent, lower than the preliminary figure for December reported last month. The reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in January 2024 was 7.9 percent higher than the level of January 2023.
By comparison, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in January in buildings with 5 or more units rose 6.3 percent from the month before. Completions were 53.7 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
Governments were reported to have put $11.4 billion in residential construction in place in January on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in January was $430.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $2.6 billion from the revised (+$97 million) level for December and was up 12.5 percent from the level of January 2023.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in January was reported to be $336.2 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $0.1 billion from the revised (-$11.8 billion) level for December and was down $12.9 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 new single-family construction spending has been rising rapidly since April 2023 while the value of multifamily residential construction put in place and that of improvements to residential buildings have been relatively constant for the last few 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.
