According to an analysis conducted by Associated Builders and Contractors using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, nonresidential construction spending declined 0.4% year over year during January 2024 and reached an annualized total of $1.190 trillion.

Spending was down in 10 of 16 nonresidential subcategories over January; private nonresidential spending decreased 0.1% while public nonresidential construction spending saw an annualized decline of 1.0%.

ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu noted, “Nonresidential construction spending plunged sharply in January after 19 consecutive monthly gains,” said some weather-related factors were at work; especially within infrastructure categories such as highway and street and water supply where spending dropped sharply to start 2019 but should remain elevated through 2024.

Basu reported that construction spending for manufacturing projects continued its impressive surge during January. “Making now accounts for roughly one of every five nonresidential construction expenditures.”

“Despite January’s disappointing data, nonresidential construction spending remains up 17% year over year,” noted Basu. Given this strong year-over-year performance and ABC’s Construction Confidence Index indicating most contractors expect their sales will increase over the next six months, spending is likely to rebound soon.”