The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the value put in place construction statistics for July 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,777.3 billion, 0.4 percent below the upward revised June estimate of $1,784.3 billion. The July figure is 8.5 percent above the July 2021 estimate of $1,637.3 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,013.7 billion, an inflation impacted 10.8 percent above the $915.2 billion for the same period in 2021.

PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION:
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,424.2 billion, 0.8 percent below the revised June estimate of $1,436.4 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $920.4 billion in July, 1.5 percent below the revised June estimate of $934.4 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $503.9 billion in July, 0.4 percent above the revised June estimate of $502.1 billion.    READ MORE..

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the value put in place construction statistics for June 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,762.3 billion, 1.1 percent below the revised May estimate of $1,781.9 billion. The June figure is 8.3 percent above the June 2021 estimate of $1,628.0 billion. During the first six months of this year, construction spending amounted to $848.2 billion, approximating inflation at 10.7 percent above the $766.0 billion for the same period in 2021.

Read more HERE.

Construction Put in Place Charts HERE.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the value put in place construction statistics for May 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,779.8 billion, 0.1 percent below the revised April estimate of $1,782.5 billion. The May figure is 9.7 percent above the May 2021 estimate of $1,621.9 billion. During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $686.9 billion, 11.0 percent above the $619.0 billion for the same period in 2021. The only market segment still expanding is isolated to residential construction, the rest are waning.  READ MORE....

Construction spending during April 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,744.8 billion, 0.2 percent above the upward revised March estimate of $1,740.6 billion. The April figure is 12.3 percent above the April 2021 estimate of $1,553.5 billion. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $520.8 billion, a massive inflation tainted 12.4 percent above the $463.3 billion for the same period in 2021. The only growth experienced over revised March numbers was in residential spending (up $8.0 billion). All of the other market sectors saw slight decreases over the revised numbers.

PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION:
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,394.7 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised March estimate of $1,387.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $891.5 billion in April, 0.9 percent above the revised March estimate of $883.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $503.2 billion in April, 0.2 percent below the revised March estimate of $504.4 billion.  READ MORE...

Construction spending during March 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,730.5 billion, 0.1 percent above the upward revised February estimate of $1,728.6 billion. The March figure is 11.7 percent above the March 2021 estimate of $1,548.6 billion. Residential spending surged past 50 percent of the entire market outlays, fueling the monthly increase while masking some declines or stagnate results in other sectors. During the first three months of this year, construction spending amounted to $376.6 billion, an inflation tinted 12.0 percent above the $336.3 billion for the same period in 2021.  READ MORE.....

Construction spending during February 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,704.4 billion, 0.5 percent above the upwardly revised January estimate of $1,695.5 billion. The February figure is 11.2 percent above the February 2021 estimate of $1,533.3 billion. During the first two months of this year, construction spending amounted to $237.8 billion, a torrid 10.4 percent above the $215.4 billion for the same period in 2021.  However, much of the dollar growth may be offset by the nearly 8.0 percent inflation that has occurred in the same time frame, while residential expenditures now compose nearly 50% of the ENTIRE total. Also of note, the public sector side has not experienced much of an increase (now only 20.58% overall), even with the massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. (This may be evidence in support of critics contentions that much of the money isn’t traditionally or generally defined as basic infrastructure).     READ MORE...

As a follow-up or outcome of the CIRT-FMI Webinar series, a whitepaper entitled “The Construction Spending Paradox: Is it Growth or Inflation?” has been developed to provide background, data, and concepts to CIRT members regarding how to remain competitive as production costs rise.  The report points out, that in February 2022 consumer prices climbed 7.9% year over year— at the same time, the 12-month producer price index was up 10%. The impact in part “has left contractors juggling steeply rising input costs, stalling advances in bid prices, and taking larger shares of project risk.”  Near term, there are sober concerns that: “Companies may experience a drop in profits despite strong backlogs and prospects for growth as energy and labor costs continue to rise.”  To counter this, firm estimators will need to master the “tricky job negotiating price fluctuations, supply chain issues, margin protection, labor costs and relationships with subcontractors.”

The paper is intended to “arm” CIRT members with reliable, clear, and persuasive evidence of the rapidly changing market conditions to discuss with clients, subs, public, etc. regarding project opportunities and costs. 

Construction spending during January 2022 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,677.2 billion, 1.3 percent above the upwardly revised December estimate of $1,655.8 billion. The January figure is 8.2 percent above the January 2021 estimate of $1,549.8 billion. [NOTE: During the early part of this year, comparisons against early 2021 figures may be greatly affected by the inflationary growth that took hold in mid-late 2021].  READ MORE HERE

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that construction spending during December 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,639.9 billion, 0.2 percent above the upward revised November estimate of $1,636.5 billion. The December figure is a substantial 9.0 percent above the December 2020 estimate of $1,504.2 billion. The value of construction in 2021 was $1,589.0 billion, 8.2 percent above the $1,469.2 billion spent in 2020 (which is somewhat tempered by a 7.0 inflation level for the year). The overall numbers, particularly the private sector increase in “residential” masked the poor performance of nonresidential spending for the year, which was actually slightly down. Meanwhile, public sector funding struggled finishing below 2020 numbers, where even highway spending saw only a slight bump from a year prior, given how late the infrastructure bill passed.   Read more.....

Today, The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private businesses but decided to let a separate regulation that requires health care workers to get a vaccine take effect.  In 6-3 ruling on matter affecting private companies, the justices – lead by the Chief Justice John Roberts, halted the mandate for all private employers with 100 or more workers, ruling the states and companies that challenged the rule were likely to succeed.  In so doing, they rejected the Biden Administration officials argument that the 1970 organic Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) gave them the authority to impose the mandate.

The majority held in part, that: “Applicants (i.e., states and private businesses) are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Secretary lacked authority to impose the mandate. Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no ‘everyday exercise of federal power.’ It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives—and health—of a vast number of employees.”  As for the health care workers mandate, the justices hesitated on whether or not the government had a winnable argument – and thus, allowed the rule to remain in place pending a final determination.

However, even the private business requirement is not entirely put to rest, since the ruling means the mandate is blocked while the case goes back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which overturned a stay that had been imposed by a different appeals court.