January's value of construction put in place jumped to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of $878 billion, the Census Bureau reported today (www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html). That number was 1.7% higher than the upwardly revised figure for December of $863 billion (originally estimated at $858 billion) and 2.1% higher than in January 2002. Private residential building construction (up 2.5% for the month and 12% over the year-ago month) and public construction (+1% for the month and 0.6% compared to January 2002) both set records.
Private nonresidential building construction slipped by 0.3% for the month and 15% relative to January 2002. Another Commerce Department agency, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, estimated Friday that fourth-quarter 2002 real (inflation-adjusted) investment in private nonresidential structures was down for the fifth straight quarter, by 10%, compared to -21% in the third quarter. That figure is a component of real gross domestic product, which rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2002, not 0.7% as initially estimated.