It’s that time again! In September of 2011, we posted about construction spending in the month of September 2010 versus 2011. Last month, Final 2012 construction spending numbers were released by the US Census Bureau in their January 2013 Press Release. The graphic below illustrates some of the comparisons in public, private, and total construction spending from 2011 to 2012.

When comparing totals from 2011 to 2012, there was a 7.4% increase (approximately) in total construction spending (quantified as the value of construction put in place). This includes private (residential and non-residential) and public construction (power, communications, manufacturing, and more). Private construction increased by 13.3% in 2012 compared to 2011. Private construction is made up of lodging, religious establishments, educational institutions and more. Public construction decreased by 3.2%. Public construction consists of transportation, communication, power, manufacturing, and more.

When drilling down by construction type, we found that private lodging increased by more than 30%, while construction spending for religious institutions dropped by 7.7%.

Another interesting comparison was private residential construction spending in January 2012 versus January 2013. New multi-family construction spending was 54.9% higher in January of last year compared to this year. New single family construction was up over 30%.

We encourage you to find some insightful or interesting comparisons of your own and share them here!

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