FOR RELEASE 10:00 AM EDT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2000 JULY 2000 CONSTRUCTION AT $789.0 BILLION ANNUAL RATE Construction put in place during July 2000 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $789.0 billion, 2 (+/-5) percent below the revised June estimate of $801.7 billion, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The July figure represents a 4 (+/-5) percent increase over July 1999. During the first 7 months of this year $450.3 billion of construction was put in place, 6 percent above the $424.5 billion for the same period in 1999. In constant (1996) dollars, the July annual rate was $690.8 billion, 2 (+/-5) percent below the revised estimate of $702.7 billion for June. PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION Spending on new residential housing units was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $255.0 billion in July, 3 percent below the revised June estimate of $262.1 billion. Nonresidential building construction was at a rate of $215.5 billion, 1 (+/-3) percent below the revised June estimate of $217.2 billion. PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION In July, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction put in place was $167.3 billion, 4 (+/-5) percent below the revised June estimate of $173.4 billion. August 2000 data will be released on October 2, 2000 at 10:00 AM EDT. Questions regarding these data may be directed to Mike Davis or Joe Huesman, Construction Expenditures Branch, Manufacturing and Construction Division, telephone (301) 457-1605. EXPLANATORY NOTES In interpreting changes in the statistics in this release, note that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often show movements which may be irregular. It may take 3 months to establish an underlying trend for total construction and as long as 8 months for specific categories of construction. The statistics in this release are estimated from several sources and surveys and are subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling errors including bias and variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage. Estimates of the standard errors are provided in Table 4 for selected types of construction. Whenever a statement such as "2 (+/-3) percent above" appears in the text, this indicates the range (-1 to +5 percent) in which the actual percent change is likely to have occurred. All ranges given are 90 percent confidence intervals. If the range contains zero, it is uncertain whether there was an increase or decrease; that is, the change was not statistically significant. For any comparison cited without a confidence interval, the change is statistically significant. Statistics for the current month are preliminary estimates subject to revision in following months as additional data become available. The average absolute percent changes from preliminary estimate to first revision for the major seasonally adjusted components are as follows: total construction, 0.5 percent; private construction, 0.6 percent; private residential construction, 0.5 percent; private nonresidential construction, 1.2 percent; and public construction, 1.1 percent. More detailed data will appear in Current Construction Reports, C30/00-7, to be issued later this month. A discussion of sources and reliability of the data appears in Current Construction Reports, C30/00-5. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 1. VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION PUT IN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ANNUAL RATE (BILLIONS OF DOLLARS) Type of construction Jul(p) Jun(r) May(r) Apr Mar Jul 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 1999 Current dollars Total construction........ 789.0 801.7 811.9 815.8 829.5 759.8 Private construction(1)......... 621.7 628.2 630.8 629.1 637.7 590.4 Residential buildings(2)...... 355.4 364.3 368.8 368.7 372.1 348.7 New housing units........... 255.0 262.1 267.1 267.9 270.7 248.7 1 unit ................... 228.1 234.2 238.9 238.4 241.0 221.3 2 units or more........... 26.9 28.0 28.2 29.5 29.6 27.4 Nonresidential buildings...... 215.5 217.2 215.6 214.6 218.0 195.3 Industrial.................. 39.0 39.8 39.7 38.6 39.0 36.3 Office...................... 53.1 53.1 52.1 53.7 52.6 45.6 Hotels, motels.............. 16.9 16.7 16.9 16.8 17.2 15.9 Other commercial............ 61.8 62.4 61.4 61.3 63.4 56.8 Religious................... 8.4 8.1 7.6 7.9 8.3 7.8 Educational................. 11.0 11.3 12.1 11.4 11.8 9.6 Hospital and institutional.. 15.3 15.3 15.0 15.1 14.9 13.3 Miscellaneous buildings..... 10.1 10.5 10.7 9.8 10.9 10.0 Telecommunications............ (NA) 17.9 17.5 17.1 17.7 15.7 All other private............. 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.7 3.1 3.0 Public construction............. 167.3 173.4 181.1 186.8 191.8 169.4 Housing and redevelopment..... 5.1 5.4 5.5 6.1 5.7 5.7 Industrial.................... 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.0 Educational................... 42.4 43.7 46.9 44.8 45.5 38.5 Hospital...................... 5.1 4.6 4.9 4.7 3.8 4.1 Other public buildings........ 28.5 29.3 29.1 29.9 29.7 27.2 Highways and streets.......... 45.6 47.4 51.3 55.9 59.0 51.9 Military facilities........... 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3 Conservation and development.. 4.5 5.8 5.4 5.9 6.5 5.6 Sewer systems................. 10.9 11.8 11.4 13.0 11.5 11.3 Water supply facilities....... 6.8 7.4 7.7 7.9 7.7 7.9 Miscellaneous public.......... 15.1 14.6 15.6 15.3 18.9 13.9 1996 dollars Total construction........ 690.8 702.7 713.0 717.5 731.9 686.7 Private construction(1)......... 543.7 550.0 553.7 553.0 562.1 533.1 Residential buildings(2)...... 310.1 318.5 323.8 324.6 327.9 314.5 New housing units........... 222.5 229.1 234.5 235.8 238.5 224.2 1 unit ................... 199.0 204.7 209.7 209.8 212.4 199.6 2 units or more........... 23.5 24.5 24.8 26.0 26.1 24.7 Nonresidential buildings...... 186.1 187.9 186.6 185.8 189.6 174.2 Industrial.................. 33.7 34.5 34.4 33.4 33.9 32.4 Office...................... 45.9 45.9 45.1 46.5 45.7 40.7 Hotels, motels.............. 14.6 14.4 14.6 14.6 14.9 14.2 Other commercial............ 53.4 53.9 53.1 53.1 55.2 50.7 Religious................... 7.2 7.0 6.6 6.9 7.2 6.9 Educational................. 9.5 9.7 10.5 9.9 10.2 8.6 Hospital and institutional.. 13.2 13.3 13.0 13.1 12.9 11.9 Miscellaneous buildings..... 8.7 9.1 9.3 8.5 9.4 8.9 Telecommunications............ (NA) 17.7 17.2 16.8 17.6 15.7 All other private............. 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.8 2.8 Public construction............. 147.0 152.7 159.4 164.5 169.8 153.6 Housing and redevelopment..... 4.4 4.7 4.9 5.3 5.0 5.1 Industrial.................... 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9 Educational................... 36.6 37.8 40.6 38.8 39.6 34.4 Hospital...................... 4.4 4.0 4.2 4.1 3.3 3.6 Other public buildings........ 24.6 25.3 25.2 25.9 25.8 24.3 Highways and streets.......... 40.4 42.1 45.4 49.6 52.6 47.3 Military facilities........... 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 Conservation and development.. 4.0 5.3 4.8 5.3 5.9 5.2 Sewer systems................. 9.9 10.7 10.3 11.8 10.5 10.5 Water supply facilities....... 6.2 6.7 7.1 7.2 7.1 7.5 Miscellaneous public.......... 13.6 13.1 14.0 13.7 17.0 12.8 (NA) Not available. (p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (1) Includes the following categories of private construction not shown separately: residential improvements, railroads, electric light and power, gas, petroleum pipelines, and farm nonresidential. (2) Includes improvements. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 2. VALUE OF CONSTRUCTION PUT IN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED IN CURRENT DOLLARS (BILLIONS OF DOLLARS) Type of construction Jul(p) Jun(r) May(r) Apr Mar Jul 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 1999 Total construction........ 72.7 73.0 69.8 65.0 61.8 70.7 Private construction(1)......... 56.8 56.9 54.4 50.7 48.7 54.3 Residential buildings(2)...... 33.6 33.9 32.4 29.9 27.7 33.1 New housing units........... 23.5 23.5 22.8 21.7 20.8 23.1 1 unit ................... 21.2 21.0 20.3 19.3 18.5 20.7 2 units or more........... 2.3 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 Nonresidential buildings...... 18.5 18.8 18.2 17.4 17.2 16.8 Industrial.................. 3.3 3.4 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.0 Office...................... 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.3 3.8 Hotels, motels.............. 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 Other commercial............ 5.5 5.5 5.1 4.9 4.8 5.1 Religious................... 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 Educational................. 1.1 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 Hospital and institutional.. 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1 Miscellaneous buildings..... 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 0.8 Telecommunications............ (NA) 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.5 1.3 All other private............. 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 Public construction............. 15.8 16.1 15.4 14.3 13.1 16.4 Housing and redevelopment..... 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 Industrial.................... 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Educational................... 4.2 4.1 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.9 Hospital...................... 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 Other public buildings........ 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.3 Highways and streets.......... 4.7 4.7 4.5 3.9 3.3 5.5 Military facilities........... 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 Conservation and development.. 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 Sewer systems................. 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 Water supply facilities....... 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 Miscellaneous public.......... 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.3 (NA) Not available. (p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. (1) Includes the following categories of private construction not shown separately: residential improvements, railroads, electric light and power, gas, petroleum pipelines, and farm nonresidential. (2) Includes improvements. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 3. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU COMPOSITE FIXED- WEIGHTED (1996 WEIGHTS) PRICE INDEX AND IMPLICIT PRICE DEFLATOR (1996=100) FIXED-WEIGHTED INDEX IMPLICIT PRICE DEFLATOR 1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000 Jan 104.9 108.4 112.6 105.0 108.5 112.8 Feb 104.7 108.6 112.9 104.9 108.6 113.1 Mar 104.8 109.0 113.3 104.9 108.9 113.3 Apr 105.0 109.3 113.7 105.0 109.3 113.7 May 105.3 109.7 (r)113.8 105.2 109.8 (r)113.9 Jun 105.9 110.4 (r)114.0 105.8 110.4 (r)114.1 Jul 106.2 110.6 (p)114.2 106.1 110.6 (p)114.2 Aug 106.5 110.8 106.4 110.8 Sep 106.6 110.9 106.6 110.9 Oct 106.9 111.4 107.0 111.4 Nov 107.3 112.0 107.4 111.9 Dec 107.9 112.3 107.9 112.3 Annual 106.0 110.3 106.1 110.4 (p) Preliminary. (r) Revised. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE 4. RELATIVE STANDARD ERRORS AND COEFFICIENTS FOR STANDARD ERRORS OF CHANGES Relative standard error(%) Coefficient for Monthly Annual month-to-month Type of construction estimate estimate change (k) Total construction... 2 1 .03 Private construction........... 3 1 .04 Residential buildings........ 5 2 .06 New housing units.......... 2 1 .01 1 unit................... 2 2 .01 2 units or more.......... 4 3 .03 Nonresidential buildings..... 2 1 .02 Industrial................. 3 2 .04 Office..................... 4 2 .05 Hotels, motels............. 7 5 .09 Other commercial........... 5 2 .06 Religious.................. 9 5 .12 Educational................ 7 5 .10 Hospital and institutional. 6 5 .07 Miscellaneous buildings.... 7 4 .09 Public construction............ 2 1 .03 Housing and redevelopment.... 8 4 .11 Industrial................... (NA) (NA) (NA) Educational.................. 3 2 .04 Hospital..................... 6 4 .08 Other public buildings....... 3 2 .04 Highways and streets......... 4 2 .05 Military facilities.......... (NA) (NA) (NA) Conservation and development. 4 2 .06 Sewer systems................ 6 3 .08 Water supply facilities...... 8 3 .11 Miscellaneous public......... 8 4 .11 (NA) Not available. Note: All statistics are based upon 1999 data. The coefficient (k) for the month-to-month change is applicable to change from the previous month and change from the same month a year ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------