Total construction spending was unchanged in September, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau…(CB)
- M-O-M: Construction spending was at seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,584.1virtually unchanged from the revised July estimate.
- Y-O-Y: Construction spending was up 8.9% when compared to the same time on year ago.
Private construction was somewhat mixed for the month of August…
- Spending on private construction was down 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,242.2 billion which is 13% higher than the same time one year ago.
- Residential construction was up 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $786.6 billion which is 24.3% higher than the same time one year ago.
NOTE: Single-family construction was down 0.7% from July, but was up 38.3% from August 2020.
As if home construction needed any more problems. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that prices are rising again for lumber. “Futures are up almost 40% since late August, while pricing service Random Lengths said that its framing composite index, which tracks on-the-spot sales, has added 27%.” (Wall Street Journal)
The good news is that analysts and industry executives don’t expect the gains to be the start of a wild ride like the one in spring. However, Stinson Dean of Deacon Lumber, noted on Twitter, “Let’s be super clear: lumber prices are double pre covid levels. The fact they aren’t 6x preCOVID levels anymore makes $550 feel low.” (Twitter)