Nonresidential Construction Contracts in March

National nonresidential construction spending contracted by 0.2% in March, according to data published May 7th by the US Census Bureau. 

Spending was down on a monthly basis in 9 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Both public and private nonresidential spending were down 0.2% in March. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.244 trillion.

“Nonresidential construction spending contracted yet again in March,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While a large portion of the ongoing decline is due to steadily falling manufacturing-related construction activity, weakness is becoming more widespread. Both public and private sector activity fell in March, and the latter is now down more than 2% on a year-over-year basis. With the exception of the ongoing boom in data center construction (+34.3% year over year), there are few sources of momentum. Despite this ongoing weakness, however, contractors remain optimistic about the outlook, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.”

Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index.