For most of 2013, construction activity was on a strong pace for recovery. While still not anywhere near reaching trend lines from before the recovery, the activity had begun to make up ground. Then, much of the nation was hit by one of the coldest winters on record with more than a third of the country covered by snow. The increase in construction activity slowed as well. This information is from the U.S. Census Bureau report on “Value of Construction Put in Place.”
In January, total construction activity topped out at $943.1 billion, which was a just over a 0.1 percent increase, which is hardly anything to crow about and might as well be flat. Larger gains in total private construction (0.5 percent) were offset by declines in total public construction (-0.8 percent).
Nonetheless, the year-over-year gains are still growing. Total construction activity has increased 9.3 percent from January 2013 to January 2014. Much of the strength of that gain comes in private construction, which saw a 12.3 percent increase compared to public construction’s much more modest increase of 2.5 percent.
As can be inferred by anyone listening to the news, the increases are being buoyed by residential work, which year-over-year increased 13.9 percent. Still, there are other hotspots, notably the lodging segment, where construction activity has increased 44.8 percent year over year. The education segment, long a bastion of growth during the downturn, has tapered off and experienced a decline of 2.0 percent year over year.
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Total Construction
Total Private Construction
Total Public Construction
