Officially,
2011’s construction spending came in at $787.4 billion, 2.0% below 2010’s
$803.6 billion, according to a February Census Bureau news release. These
figures are not seasonally adjusted or adjusted for inflation.
If you
want to inflation-adjust the number, note that the Consumer Price Index (“for
all Urban Consumers”), as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 3.0%
for “the all items index” in 2011.
.jpg "120214_construction_graph")
Above: Graphic from Calculated Risk blog
Census
data showed December 2011 construction (as seasonally adjusted) coming in at 4.3%
above December 2010. Some commentators credited that to better winter weather.
Full-year
2011 figures for key segments:
Private
construction: Up 0.7% over 2010, to $504.1 billion.
Residential:
Down 1.1%, including a 5.1% decline in new single-family construction and a
0.3% increase in multi-family building. The 2011 total was $236.2 billion.
Nonresidential:
Up 2.4% compared to 2010. Within this segment, power construction (at $77.9
billion) was the largest single niche, up 17% over 2010. The total in 2011 was
$268 billion.
Public
construction: Down 6.5% compared to 2010, at $283.3 billion. The largest niche
was educational building at $70.9 billion, down 5.3%
Figures
for recent years, as provided at the Census website:
2009: $907.8
billion
2008:
$1,072.1 billion
2007: $1,137.2
billion
2006:
$1,192.2 billion
2005: $1,143.7
billion
Computed
with any adjustments, 2011 construction was down 31.1% from 2005.
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