Census Bureau’s Report on Construction Spending
The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending noted the following:
- The value of multifamily residential construction put in place rose 0.06 percent in September from the revised level of the previous month.
- Spending on single-family residential construction declined 0.01 percent, while spending on improvements dropped by 13 percent.
- In September 2026, the total private residential construction put in place was reported as $848.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis. This represented a $49.2 billion decrease from the previous month.
- Residential construction spending in September was down 8.9 percent year-over-year.
Multifamily Construction Spending
- The value of new private construction of multifamily residential buildings put in place in September was $115.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, an increase of $74 million from the previous month’s revised figure.
- However, the reported value of multifamily housing construction put in place in September decreased by 0.22 percent year-over-year.
- The Census Bureau’s New Residential Construction report showed that completions of buildings with 5 or more units rose 14.9 percent in September from the revised level of the previous month, but were down 20.4 percent from the year-earlier level.
Chart Analysis
The first chart illustrates the differences between the levels of multifamily construction put in place reported for the current and the two prior months, revealing significant revisions in August’s report and smaller adjustments in September.
Single-Family and Total Residential Construction
- The value of new single-family residential construction put in place in September was $403.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, a decrease of $41 million from August’s revised figure and $9.75 billion lower than the year-earlier level.
- Governments spent $12.4 billion on residential construction in September on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis.
- The value of improvements to residential buildings put in place in September was reported as $329.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, a decrease of $49.3 billion from August’s revised figure and $72.4 billion lower than the year-earlier level.
Long-Term Trends
The following chart displays the value of residential construction put in place each month since September 2017, along with trend lines for single-family and multifamily residential construction based on growth from January 2012 to July 2018.
For more detailed information on other types of construction projects, refer to the full Census Bureau report.