The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in June was up 1.5 percent month-over-month. Spending on single-family residential construction rose 2.1 percent while spending on improvements was down 0.6 percent.
Multifamily construction spending moves higher
The value of total private residential construction put in place in June 2023 was reported to be $856.3 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was up $7.7 billion from May’s revised (-$8.8 billion) figure. Residential construction spending in June was reported to be down 10.4 percent year-over-year.
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in June was reported to be $131.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $1.5 billion from the revised (+$2.1 billion) level for May. The value of multifamily housing construction put in place in June 2023 was 21.8 percent higher than the level of June 2022.
By comparison, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in June in buildings with 5 or more units fell 2.5 percent. Completions were 26.3 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in June was $378.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $7.7 billion from the revised (-$476 million) level for May and was down 21.5 percent from the level of June 2022.
Governments were reported to have put $10.1 billion in residential construction in place in June on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in June was reported to be $346.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $1.9 billion from the revised (-$10.4 billion) level for May and was down $20.8 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 for the past year. The value of new single-family residential construction put in place was up for the second month after falling steadily since May 2022. The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place has been reported to be in a narrow range of 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.
