Construction Spending Up 12.4%

The value of construction put in place in March 2015 was $72,671 (millions of real dollars). Compared with one year ago, spending in March was up 12.4%. This was the second consecutive month of more than 12% growth, which has not happened since January-February 2002. Also, The month-over-month rate of growth has accelerated in six of the last seven months. And, this was the fastest rate of growth since May 2012. The annual rate of change, which was at 5.0%, grew faster for the second month in a row. The recent data shows that the commercial and institutional construction markets are growing faster than the residential construction market.

Real construction spending is a good leading indicator for construction materials, hardware, and HVAC industrial production.