US construction spending was unchanged from a month earlier at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of USD 1.30 trillion in April of 2019, after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent increase in the previous month and missing market expectations of a 0.4 percent gain. Investment in public construction jumped 4.8 percent, above a 0.5 percent rise in March and making the fourth straight monthly increase, with federal construction spending surging 7.4 percent, its biggest jump in 1-1/2 years. On the other hand, spending on private construction dropped 1.7 percent to the lowest level since January of 2017, after showing no growth in the prior month, as investment in private residential projects slipped 0.6 percent to the lowest level since December 2016 and that on private nonresidential structures, which include manufacturing and power plants slumped 2.9 percent. Construction Spending in the United States averaged 0.45 percent from 1964 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 5.90 percent in April of 1978 and a record low of -4.80 percent in February of 1975.
Construction Spending in the United States is expected to be -0.30 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Construction Spending in the United States to stand at -0.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United States Construction Spending is projected to trend around 0.40 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.