Construction spending in November reached a 17-month high of $807 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, up 1.2 percent from a downwardly revised October total, and up 0.5 percent from November 2010, according to the Associated General Contractors of America’s analysis. Private residential spending increased 2 percent for the month and 3.4 percent year over year, while private nonresidential spending rose less than 0.05 percent for the month and 4.5 percent in the past 12 months. Public spending jumped 1.7 percent in November but declined 5.3 percent compared with November 2010.
New single-family residential increased 1.5 percent for the month and 2.5 percent year over year; new multi-family hiked 1.3 percent and 4.1 percent.
New orders from U.S. manufacturing plants, excluding semiconductor manufacturing, increased 1.8 percent in November, following drops of 0.2 percent in October and 0.1 percent in September, according to the Census Bureau. Orders for construction materials and supplies jumped 0.4 percent in November, 3.6 percent in October and dropped 1.7 percent in September.
