The value of construction put in place reached $934.5 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in November, the Census Bureau announced. It was the sixth straight record, 1.2% above October's upwardly revised total and 7.4% higher than the year-ago month.
For the first 11 months of 2003, construction is 4.1% ahead of the same period of 2002. The gains come only from private residential constuction (+10% year-to-date) and public construction (+3%); private nonresidential construction is off 6%. Nevertheless, the decline in private nonresidential is less than the double-digit decreases of early this year.