The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending said that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place in December was down 0.28 percent from the revised level of the month before. Spending on single-family residential construction was reported to rise 0.99 percent while spending on improvements was up 2.7 percent.
The value of total private residential construction put in place in December 2024 was reported to be $939.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This figure, which includes spending on both new construction and on improvements, was reported to be up $13.95 billion month-over-month. In addition, November’s figure was revised higher by $19.33 billion. Residential construction spending in December was reported to be up 6.0 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily construction spending continues lower
The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in December was reported to be $119.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was down $333 million from the revised level for November. In addition, the November figure was revised lower by $2.25 billion, so the preliminary multifamily construction spending figure reported this month is $2.58 billion, or 2.12 percent, lower than the preliminary figure for November reported last month. The reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in December was 10.5 percent lower than the level of December 2023.
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. 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, October’s initial report of $125.4 billion in completions was revised down to $123.6 billion in last month’s report and to $121.3 billion in this month’s report.
For reference, the Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report said the number of unit completions in December in buildings with 5 or more units was down 1.7 percent from the level of the month before but down 9.8 percent from October’s level. Completions were 9.4 percent higher than their year-earlier level.
Governments were reported to have put $12.0 billion in residential construction in place in December on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in December was $428.5 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $4.19 billion from the revised (+$1.47 billion) level for November but was down 0.77 percent year-over-year.
The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in December was reported to be $391.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This was up $10.09 billion from the revised (+$20.11 billion) level for November and was up $70.4 billion from the year-earlier level. The Census Bureau does not separate out improvements for single-family and multifamily residential buildings.
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 line for single-family residential construction based on growth in construction volume during the period from January 2012 to July 2018. There is only a trend line shown for single-family housing because it was the only category of construction to show a steady increase over the 2012 to 2018 period. Multifamily housing construction spending showed a pattern of increasing and then leveling off before reaching another period of increase.
The chart shows that the value of multifamily residential construction put in place reached a high point in June 2023 but has been trending lower since then.
The value of single-family construction put in place had also been in a period of decline earlier in the year but it has been moving higher since August.
The revisions to the value of improvements put in place are typically the largest of those for the three types of construction that the Census Bureau tracks. That was true again this month with significant upside revisions being made to the reported level of construction for the last 2 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.
