US construction spending fell 0.1 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of USD 1.31 trillion in October 2018, the same as September's revised figure and below market expectations of a 0.4 percent rise. Spending on private construction dropped 0.4 percent, after rising 0.4 percent in September, as private residential outlays declined 0.5 percent to their lowest since November 2017 and spending on private non-residential projects went down 0.3 percent, the biggest decrease since March. Meanwhile, investment in public construction increased 0.8 percent, after falling 1.5 percent in September, as spending on state and local government construction rose 0.5 percent and that on federal construction surged 3.7 percent. Year-on-year, construction spending increased 4.9 percent. Construction Spending in the United States averaged 0.45 percent from 1964 until 2018, 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 1.00 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 0.80 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.