Construction spending during March 2005 was estimated at a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.05 trillion, or about 0.5 percent above
the revised February estimate, the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of
Commerce announced
today.
The March figure is about 8 percent above the March 2004
estimate of $973.9 billion. The seasonally adjusted annual rate projects a
monthly total over a 12-month period.
During the first 3 months of this year, total construction spending
amounted to $222.4 billion, or about 9.3 percent above the $203.5 billion for
the same period in 2004.
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of $815.5 billion, about 0.5 percent above the revised
February estimate of $811.3 billion. Residential construction was at a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of $585.3 billion in March, about 0.3 percent
above the revised February estimate of $583.6 billion and up about 12.1 percent
from March 2004. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of $230.3 billion in March, about 1.1 percent above the revised
February estimate of $227.7 billion and up about 6.3 percent from March 2004.
Month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics
often show movement that may be irregular, the Census Bureau reported. It may
take two months to establish an underlying trend for total construction and as
long as eight months for specific categories of construction. The 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.
Statistics for the current month are preliminary estimates
subject to revision in following months as additional data become available.
The average absolute percent changes from preliminary estimate to first
revision for the major seasonally adjusted components are as follows: total
construction, 0.8 percent; private construction, 0.7 percent; and public
construction, 1.4 percent.
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