The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that multifamily construction spending in January was down 0.74 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on single-family residential construction was reported to rise 0.63 percent while spending on improvements was down 1.53 percent.
The value of total private residential construction put in place in January 2025 was reported to be $932.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was reported to be down $4.16 billion month-over-month. In addition, December’s figure was revised lower by $2.62 billion. Residential construction spending in January was reported to be up 3.2 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily construction spending down again
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in January was reported to be $116.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $877 million from the revised (-$1.59 billion) level for December. The preliminary multifamily construction spending figure reported this month is $2.46 billion, or 2.06 percent, lower than the preliminary figure for December reported last month. The reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in January 2025 was 12.0 percent lower than the level of January 2024.
The first chart shows the difference between the levels of multifamily construction put in place reported for the last two months and the levels reported this month. All three recent reports show downward trends in the dollar values of multifamily housing put in place. In addition, all revisions to the data have been to the downside. For example, November’s initial report of $122.0 billion in completions was revised down to $119.7 billion in last month’s report and to $118.6 billion in this month’s report.
For reference, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in buildings with 5 or more units has been falling from its recent high in August, reaching a low point in November. However, completions were reported to rise in each of the last 2 months. January completions were up 10.1 percent from the level of the month before and up 10.8 percent from November’s level. Completions were 11.8 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in January was $431.2 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $2.70 billion from the revised (+$2.76 billion) level for December but was down 0.86 percent year-over-year.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in January was reported to be $384.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $5.98 billion from the revised (-$7.07 billion) level for December and was up $48.2 billion from the year-earlier level. The Census Bureau does not separate out improvements for single-family and multifamily residential buildings.
Governments were reported to have put $11.8 billion in residential construction in place in January on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
Looking long-term
The following chart shows the value of residential construction put in place each month since January 2017. It also shows the trend lines for single-family and multifamily 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 has been trending lower for the last year and a half. This is the longest period of decline since the housing bust after 2006.
The value of single-family construction put in place has sometimes run above the trend and has sometimes run below. However, it has been generally rising in parallel with the trend line.
The value of improvements put in place has also been trending higher. However, the monthly figure has been jumping up and down over the last 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.
