September construction spending falls 1.9%; private residential outlays drop 5.5%

Census puts the total at a $2,186.1 billion annual rate. Private nonresidential spending rose, while the estimated public-sector decline was not statistically significant.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported on November 2 that construction spending in September 2026 was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,186.1 billion, down 1.9% from the revised August rate of $2,227.4 billion. The agency gives a margin of error of plus or minus 0.7 percentage point for the monthly change. The annualized rate is not the amount spent during September alone. Total spending was 2.7% below the September 2025 rate of $2,245.8 billion, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. For January through September, spending totaled $1,649.6 billion, down 2.9% from $1,698.6 billion in the same period of 2025. This year-to-date total is a different measure from the seasonally adjusted annual rate. Private construction spending fell 2.4% from August to an annual rate of $1,639.3 billion. Within that private-sector total, residential spending dropped 5.5% to $848.8 billion. Census reports a margin of error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points for the private residential monthly decline. The private residential figure should not be described as all residential construction. Private nonresidential spending moved the other way, rising 1.1% to an annual rate of $790.6 billion, with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage point. That increase partially offset the residential decline within private construction. It does not mean total nonresidential spending or every commercial building category rose by the same percentage. Public construction was estimated at a $546.8 billion annual rate, 0.1% below the revised August estimate of $547.1 billion. The plus-or-minus 1.3-percentage-point margin of error is larger than that estimated decline, and Census marks it as not statistically significant. Public educational spending was virtually unchanged at $113.1 billion; highway spending was estimated at $149.2 billion. The release measures the dollar value of construction put in place. Its monthly estimates are subject to revision and sampling uncertainty. It does not isolate why spending changed, quantify a mortgage-rate effect or establish what Federal Reserve policymakers will decide. The confirmed result is a September decline in total construction spending, concentrated in private residential outlays, alongside growth in private nonresidential spending.

September construction spending falls 1.9%; private residential outlays drop 5.5%

Sources

Related News

Commercial paper outstanding slips to $1.499 trillion in October 28 data

EIA puts August U.S. crude output at 13.965 million barrels per day

Fed H.8 shows bank credit rising $28.8 billion in week ending October 21