America’s construction spending is rising again with the outturn for December 2020, going up by an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of one per cent to US$1.49 trillion.

The United States Census Bureau reports that this was above the revised November estimate of US$1.47 trillion. Moreover, this December figure is 5.7 per cent above the December 2019 estimate of US$1.41 trillion.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2020, the value of construction rose 4.7 per cent to US$1.42 trillion, up from the US$1.36 trillion recorded in 2019.

Private construction 

According to the Census Bureau, spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$1.13 trillion up, 1.2 per cent above the revised November estimate of US$1.12 trillion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$691 billion in December, which was 3.1 per cent above the revised November estimate of US$670.1 billion.

“Meanwhile, on a seasonally adjusted basis, nonresidential construction was at an annual rate of US$446.6 billion in December, 1.7 per cent below the revised November estimate of US$454.4 billion,” according to the US Census Bureau.

The private construction value totalled US$1.08 trillion which was 4.7 per cent greater than the US$1.03 trillion spent in 2019. Moreover, in 2020, residential construction stood at US$607.6 billion, which represented an increase of 11.6 per cent more than the US$544.4 billion spent in 2019.

At the same time, non-residential construction was US$471.7 billion, which was 3.0 per cent below the 2019 figure of US$486.3 billion.

Public construction 

The projected seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in December 2020 was US$352.8 billion or 0.5 per cent above the updated US$351.1 billion in the previous month of November estimates. Educational construction was 0.6 per cent above the updated November forecast of US$89.7 billion, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$90.2 billion.

Whereas highway construction was US$98.4 billion or 0.9 per cent above the updated November forecast of US$97.5 billion, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The Census Bureau reported that the public construction value in 2020 amounted to US$350.5 billion, a 4.8 per cent  increase (2019: US$334.4 billion).

Notably, in 2020, educational construction totalled US$87.3 billion, 3.6 per cent greater than the US$84.3 billion spent in 2019 whereas highway construction amounted to US$98.8 billion, 1.8 per cent above the US$97.1 billion in 2019.