“Construction put in place came within a whisker of setting a record in August but remains a tale of three markets,” said Kenneth D. Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, the nation's leading construction trade association.
“Construction put in place came within a whisker of setting a record in August but remains a tale of three markets,” said Kenneth D. Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), the nation's leading construction trade association. “In August, housing continued to streak ahead, public construction rebounded, but private nonresidential construction slipped again.”
Simonson commented on the Census Bureau's release today of data on the value of construction put in place, which showed that the total amount spent on construction projects in August reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $882.7 billion, 0.2% above the upwardly revised July total of $880.8 billion (initially estimated at $879.8 billion) and less than 0.1% shy of the record $883.2 billion put in place in January 2003. Seasonally adjusted spending in August was 4% higher than a year before; for the first eight months of 2003, spending totaled 2.1% more than in January-August 2002.