March 2021 Construction Spending Report – Census Bureau

Today we’re looking at the March 2021 value of construction put in place spending. This time last year we saw P.I.P. spending around 1.436 trillion dollars. Over the past 12 months construction has grown 5.3% to 1.513 trillion dollars. Residential construction spending has increased by 23.3% in the same time period and the share of residential construction to total construction has increased 7.07% from 41.48% to 48.55%. 

Few industries saw growth in this past year. Education, Public Safety, and Sewage and Waste disposal all saw increases this past year of 7.7%, 3.7%, and 1.1% growth respectively. Industries seeing the largest declines were offices, Amusement and Recreation, Conservation and development, and highway and streets, all seeing double digit declines.

From this time last month, we see a total growth of 0.2% with a major decline of 10.8% in spending on public safety. Other industries with a 2% decline or more include, office, educational, highway and street, water supply. We see growth above 2% in conservation and development. All others are within +/- 2%. This amounts to a 0.7% increase in private construction spending and a 1.5% decline in public construction spending. 

No private construction industries have recovered from the lockdowns. Spending for education construction has increased 7.7% from this time year and has been a driver amongst public spending not including increases in residential construction. Overall, residential construction has helped the construction industry stay afloat during the lockdowns.