Texas house framing (archive): Jaksmata (CC BY-SA 3.0; crop).
U.S. construction spending fell 1.9% in September from a revised August estimate, the Census Bureau reported Monday, November 2, as a sharp drop in private residential spending outweighed an increase in private nonresidential work.
Total spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.1861 trillion, down from $2.2274 trillion in August, according to the bureau’s 10 a.m. release. The September estimate was 2.7% below a year earlier.
Private residential construction spending fell 5.5% to an annual rate of $848.8 billion. That category includes residential improvements as well as new homes. New single-family spending was virtually unchanged, while new multifamily spending edged up 0.1%, the tables showed.
Private nonresidential spending rose 1.1% to $790.6 billion. Overall private construction spending fell 2.4% to $1.6393 trillion.
Public construction spending was estimated at $546.8 billion, down 0.1%. That change was not statistically significant: the bureau’s 90% confidence interval included zero, meaning it could not determine whether public spending actually rose or fell.
For the first nine months of 2026, construction spending totaled $1.6496 trillion, 2.9% below the same period in 2025. The figures measure the dollar value of work put in place, not housing starts or project counts, and are not adjusted for price changes.
September’s figures are preliminary and August’s were revised. Census cautions that month-to-month moves can be irregular and that it may take two months to establish an underlying trend in total construction spending. The next report is scheduled for December 1.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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