March 2013 Residential Construction Spending Up 18.2% from 2012

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported residential construction spending crept up to a seasonally adjusted rate of $294.9 billion in March, 0.4 percent over February and 18.2 percent over March 2012. Total private construction dipped 0.6 percent from February to $598.4 billion.

Public construction spending dropped 4.1 percent from February to $258.3 billion, with education construction down 2.9 percent to $62.8 billion.

Overall construction edged down 1.7 percent from February to $856.7 billion, which is 4.8 percent above March 2012.