February Construction Spending Partially Driven by Inflation

February Construction Spending Partially Driven by Inflation

Total construction spending rose in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.704 trillion, a 0.5 percent increase from January and 11.2 percent higher than in February 2021. It was also 13.5 percent above the rate the prior February , just before the pandemic took hold. During the first two months of the year, expenditures total $237.846 billion, 10.4 percent growth compared to the first two months of 2021. Private sector spending rose 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $1.354 trillion, a 14 percent annual increase. As has been the case for months, the increase was driven almost entirely by residential spending which gained by 1.1 percent from January and was 16.6 percent higher on an annual basis. Single-family construction accounted for most of the annual increase, up 20.