The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in August was down 0.35 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on single-family residential construction was reported to fall 1.5 percent while spending on improvements was reported higher by 1.0 percent.
The value of total private residential construction put in place in August 2024 was reported to be $899.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was reported to be down $3.0 billion month-over-month. However, July’s figure was revised lower by $38.6 billion so this decline is from a lower base than indicated in last month’s report. Residential construction spending in August was reported to be up 2.7 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily construction spending falls again
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in July was reported to be $127.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $452 million from the revised level for July. In addition, the July figure was revised lower by $786 million, so the preliminary multifamily construction spending figure reported this month is $1.24 billion, or 0.96 percent, lower than the preliminary figure for July reported last month. The reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in August 2024 was 7.6 percent lower than the level of August 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, while the first report for June’s completions value indicated an upswing from May’s level, both subsequent reports have revised June’s level downward. The revision to July’s initial reported value of multifamily construction put in place was also revised downward this month.
For reference, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in August in buildings with 5 or more units jumped 36.5 percent from the level of the month before. Completions were 79.2 percent higher than their year-earlier level. While the unit count of completions may not change in lockstep with the value of construction put in place, the degree of divergence between these measures is striking.
Governments were reported to have put $11.5 billion in residential construction in place in August on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in August was $414.3 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $6.2 billion from the revised (-$889 million) level for July but was up 0.75 percent year-over-year.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in August was reported to be $357.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $3.62 billion from the revised (-$36.93 billion) level for July and was up $30.70 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 has been on a downward trajectory since its recent high in June of last year. It is now down 9.0 percent from that point.
The value of single-family construction put in place has also been on a downward trajectory recently. It has now fallen 6.0 percent from its recent high earlier this year and 8.2 percent from its post-pandemic high in May 2022.
The values of improvements put in place both for last month and for the month before were revised sharply lower in this month’s report, with declines of $32 billion or more. The value of improvements had seemed to be on an upward trend based on earlier reports but the most recent data has this value remaining nearly unchanged over the past 3 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.
