June 2021 Construction Spending Report – Census Bureau

June 2021 construction spending is out and we see a slight increase in spending from last month up 0.1%. Overall construction spending is up 8.2% from June 2020. Residential construction has kept the overall spending up with 28.8% increase from June 2020 however non-residential construction has dipped -6.6% from June 2020 and -0.9% from last month. All industries have been hit hard but highway and street spending are down 5.2% from last month. Conservation & development continues to make gains with another 6.3% rise in construction spending.

Private construction has been making a comeback since last year but this is due to the increase in residential construction spending. Comparatively non-residential private and public sectors are both down 6% and 7.6% respectively. We are still a ways from getting back to where we were. One major consideration when viewing the construction spending reports is how much inflation has risen. If spending rises at a level equal to inflation then there is no additional profit being generated by the industry. When looking at the value of construction spending we should adjust it for total volume of construction work. In this case we do see a decline in the total value of the construction market as less volume is being built than in the past.