Construction spending during November 2005 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $1.15 trillion, or 0.2 percent above the revised October estimate and 7.8 percent above the November 2004 estimate, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today.
During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to about $1.03 trillion, or 9 percent above the $946.3 billion for the same period in 2004.
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $892.4 billion, or 0.2 percent above the revised October estimate of $891 billion.
Private residential construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $641.9 billion in November, which is nearly level with the revised October estimate and is 9.7 percent higher than in November 2004. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $250.5 billion in November, or 0.6 percent above the revised October estimate of $249 billion.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate is a projection of a monthly total over a 12-month period, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations in construction spending activity.
The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in November was about $253.9 billion, or 0.3 percent above the revised October estimate of $253.2 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $66.5 billion, or 1.3 percent above the revised October estimate of $65.7 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $69.3 billion, or 1.6 percent above the revised October estimate of $68.2 billion.
The Census Bureau noted that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics can show movements that may be irregular. It can take two months to establish an underlying trend for total construction and as long as eight months for specific categories of construction, the agency reported.
Statistics are estimated from several sources and surveys and are subject to sampling variability as well as non-sampling error including bias and variance from response, non-reporting, and under-coverage, and the latest monthly statistics are preliminary estimates subject to revision in following months as additional data become available.
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