Econoday Report: Construction Spending 28, 2007

<%@ Language=VBScript %> Econoday Report: Construction Spending 28, 2007

Construction Spending

Definition
The dollar value of new construction activity on residential, non-residential, and public projects. Data are available in nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) dollars. Why Investors Care

Released on 9/28/07 For Aug 2007

Construction Spending - M/M change
Actual	0.2%
Consensus	-0.5%
Consensus Range	-0.7% to 0.2%
Previous	-0.4 %

Highlights
Construction spending showed life in August, up 0.2 percent vs. expectations for a decline of 0.5 percent. As has been the story all year, non-residential construction continues to offset bad weakness on the residential side. Non-residential private construction, led by office construction, jumped 2.3 percent in the month. Public construction has also been helping, up 0.7 percent in the month and showing another strong month in educational construction.

But now a look at the residential side. Private residential construction fell 1.5 percent in the month with singe-family construction down 3.3 percent and multi-family down 0.3 percent. Year-on-year rates reflect the declines being posted in home sales, with residential construction down 16.5 percent. Completely swollen supply of new and used homes on the market does not point to improvement ahead.

But non-residential construction is up 15.2 percent year-on-year, no doubt one of the most important readings on the economic tables. Data on the housing sector will take a pause for the next couple of weeks, moving housing headlines to comments from policy makers and construction firms.

Market Consensus Before Announcement
Construction spending declined 0.4 percent in July, following a revised 0.1 percent rise in June. But recent sector trends continue with the residential component declining and other major components continuing upward trends. Private residential construction fell 1.4 percent in July, while public outlays and private nonresidential construction rose 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Construction spending Consensus Forecast for August 07: -0.5 percent
Range: -0.7 to +0.2 percent

Trends

Over the last year, a decline in residential outlays has pulled down year-on-year growth for overall construction outlays. Nonresidential and public outlays are positive with nonresidential actually strong.

Data Source: Haver Analytics

2007 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/3 1/31 3/1 3/30 4/30 5/31 6/29 7/31 9/4 9/28 10/31 11/30

Released For: Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct