U.S. Construction Spending Falls 1.9% in September as Homebuilding Slumps
U.S. construction spending dropped 1.9% in September, missing forecasts for a small gain, as private homebuilding fell 5.5%, the Census Bureau said Monday.
U.S. construction spending fell 1.9% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,186.1 billion, the Census Bureau said Monday, missing economists' forecasts for a 0.3% increase. August's figure was revised up to a 2.0% gain from an initially reported 0.9%.
Spending was down 2.7% from a year earlier, and outlays for the first nine months of 2026 ran 2.9% below the same period in 2025.
The weakness was concentrated in private homebuilding: residential spending slid 5.5% to $848.8 billion. Private nonresidential construction rose 1.1% to $790.6 billion, and public construction was little changed, edging down 0.1% to $546.8 billion, with highways and education projects essentially flat.
The monthly figures are nominal dollar amounts, seasonally adjusted and expressed at an annual rate rather than the amount spent in a single month. They are preliminary and subject to revision, and because they track dollar spending they do not separate changes in building activity from changes in prices.
(File photo: A construction site in Guam in 2014. The photo is illustrative and does not show a current U.S. mainland project. Photo: U.S. Department of Defense, public domain, via Good Free Photos)