Construction spending unexpectedly falls in September

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! Finance

Reuters

Construction spending unexpectedly falls in September

Mon, November 1, 2021, 10:25 AM · 1 min read

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in September amid declines in outlays on both private and public projects.

The Commerce Department said on Monday that construction spending dropped 0.5% after edging up 0.1% in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending gaining 0.4%.

Construction spending increased 7.8% on a year-on-year basis in September. The government reported last week that gross domestic product increased at a 2.0% annualized rate, stepping down from the April-June's robust 6.7% pace.

Spending on private construction projects decreased 0.5% in September after falling 0.3% in August. Outlays on residential construction dropped 0.4% after nudging up 0.1% in August. Single-family homebuilding spending declined 0.6% and outlays on multi-family housing projects slipped 0.3%.

Shortages and more expensive building materials are holding back homebuilding. Residential investment contracted for a second straight quarter in the third quarter, weighed down by declines in home improvements and single-family homebuilding.

Investment in private non-residential construction like gas and oil well drilling fell 0.6% in September. Spending on structures declined for a second straight quarter in the July-September period, led by commercial and healthcare structures.

Spending on public construction projects tumbled 0.7% in September after increasing 1.2% in August. Outlays on state and local government construction projects fell 0.4%, xxx federal government spending plunged 4.3%.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani)

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/construction-spending-unexpectedly-falls-september-142526508.html

[marble falls]

1. Are people trying to get in front of the bubble?

[oioioi]

3. recession precursor

"marketplace" on Friday explaining that the reason consumer spending is down is because there aren't enough choices to buy and when the inventories are increased then demand will rise. Sure Jan - and I hear you saying inflation is temporary. Interest rates going up, brakes on congressional fiscal policy. Bust coming.

[Happy Hoosier]

5. I think the inflation IS temporary...

... I think a dysfunctional supply chain is the cause.

I think if the supply chain issues are resolved, there is a lot of pent-up demand. I think the inflation is largely an artifact of restricted supply.

[oioioi]

6. inflation depressed by zero interest rates. asset prices through the roof

don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

[Happy Hoosier]

7. We shall see, of course....

but I don't think that the indicators are all that clear. I honestly think that if the supply chain issues could be resolved, things would resolve quickly. I AM a bit concerned that I'm not hearing very much about this issue from the Biden Admin. In my view, the biggest threat right now is no longer COVID, but the clogged supply chain. I'd like to see national assets deployed as necessary, to include directed production where possible and appropriate.

[George II]

2. Not you, but I really dislike these snapshots of the state of the construction industry or any....

....industry. I wish economists would do some smoothing over several months. Life and the economy aren't a set of 12 finite periods, it's a continuum over a long period of life.

I dealt with that for 40+ years while working. Toward the end of the month management would have people work overtime to push out as much as they could to make that month look "good". Of course, everything that went out the last few days of a month took away production from the first few days of the next month.

Plus the construction industry is more subject to weather than most industries.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. No problem. I get it. It's like DJIA quarterly reports.

A lot of trades in the last few days to make sure you own the winners, not the losers.

Thanks for writing.