Construction spending inches upward in April

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion. The April figure is 4.3 percent above the April 2012 estimate of $825.1 billion.

During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $250.7 billion, 4.5 percent above the $239.8 billion for the same period in 2012.

Private construction

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $602.0 billion, 1.0 percent above the revised March estimate of $595.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $301.9 billion in April, 0.1 percent below the revised March estimate of $302.2 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $300.1 billion in April, 2.2 percent above the revised March estimate of $293.7 billion.

Public construction

In April, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $258.8 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised March estimate of $261.8 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $58.7 billion, 4.4 percent below the revised March estimate of $61.4 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $76.7 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised March estimate of $76.2 billion.

Here's a sector breakdown by seasonally adjusted annual rate (CLICK TABLE TO ENLARGE):

A terminal modernization program can be a complicated and expensive task that airport operators may be hesitant to undertake unless necessitated by demands for increased capacity. This is the first post in our series examining why airport operators should bother to upgrade their facilities, even if capacity isn’t forcing the issue.