The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in September was down 0.10 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on single-family residential construction was reported to rise 0.39 percent while spending on improvements was up 1.0 percent.
The value of total private residential construction put in place in September 2024 was reported to be $913.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was reported to be up $1.45 billion month-over-month. In addition, August’s figure was revised higher by $12.2 billion. Residential construction spending in September was reported to be up 4.1 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily construction spending lower
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in August was reported to be $127.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $126 million from the revised level for August. In addition, the August figure was revised lower by $706 million, so the preliminary multifamily construction spending figure reported this month is $832 million, or 0.65 percent, lower than the preliminary figure for August reported last month. The reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in September 2024 was 8.1 percent lower than the level of September 2023.
The first chart shows the difference between the levels of multifamily construction put in place reported for last two months and the levels reported this month. It shows that all three reports have been consistent in showing declining levels of multifamily housing put in place. In addition, all revisions to the data have been to the downside. For example, July’s initial report of $129.1 billion in completions was revised down to $128.3 billion in last month’s report and to $127.5 billion in this month’s report.
For reference, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in September in buildings with 5 or more units fell 8.7 percent month-over-month after surging 36.5 percent the month before. However, completions were 41.9 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
Governments were reported to have put $11.7 billion in residential construction in place in September on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in September was $418.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $1.64 billion from the revised (+$2.96 billion) level for August and was up 0.86 percent year-over-year.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in September was reported to be $367.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $66 million from the revised (+$10.0 billion) level for August and was up $43.3 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 2017. It also shows the trend line for single-family residential construction based on growth in construction volume during the period from January 2012 to July 2018.
The chart shows that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place increased from July 2022 to June 2023 but has been declining since then.
The value of single-family construction put in place has also been on a downward trajectory since March but ticked higher this month.
The value of improvements put in place both for last month and the month before were revised higher in this month’s report, reversing the direction of last month’s large revisions. The value of improvements has been generally trending upward since November 2023.
The report from the Census Bureau also includes information on spending on other types of construction projects. The full report can be found here.
