As housing inventory tightens across the country, private residential construction spending grew in August as builders attempt to alleviate some of the stress.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that private residential construction spending was $520.9 billion in August. This is higher than initial July estimates and is 11.7 percent more than spending this time last year. This is the fourth consecutive month of spending increases after a slight dip in April.
According to NAHB, the growth in August is mainly due to strong and steady increases in single-family construction, which is up 0.3 percent; multifamily construction, which is up 0.9 percent; and home improvement, which is up 0.5 percent.
Although NAHB reports that Hurricane Harvey did not have a significant impact on construction spending in August, it could have an impact on the rest of 2017 as homes will need to be rebuilt and repaired throughout the Gulf states.
Pending home sales dropped 2.6 percent in August to the lowest point since January 2016. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, this is due to the “one-two punch” of limited listings and rising home prices.
