In March, construction spending hit a seasonally adjusted rate of $847.3 billion, which is 0.2 percent higher than was reported in February. Although construction spending was up slightly during the third month of the year, it is 12.3 percent lower than was reported in March 2009.
The Census noted that private construction went down 0.9 percent in March when held up against February's total. In all, $550.8 billion was spent in this sector, while declines were seen in both residential and nonresidential dollars. The former saw spending at $251.8 billion, which was 1.1 percent below February. The latter had spending decline 0.7 percent to $299 billion. Meanwhile, spending on public projects was up 2.3 percent.
Now that the government's tax credit for homebuyers has come to a close, further drops in construction spending may be seen in the coming months. The credit - which gave first-time buyers up to $8,000 and repeat purchasers as much as $6,500 - was a strategy employed by the government to stabilize the housing market.
