Home Building and Remodeling Spending Sees Dip in March

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In March, private residential construction spending fell by 0.4%, owing primarily to a reduction in home improvement investment.

This dip came after five months of uninterrupted increase.

Despite the monthly decline, spending remained 2.8% higher than the previous year, demonstrating the housing market’s resiliency.

According to the most recent US Census Construction Spending statistics, improvement spending fell by 1.2% in March, coinciding with the weakening in the Remodeling Market Sentiment in the first quarter of 2025.

Still, spending on upgrades was 13.4% greater than in March 2024.

Meanwhile, investment on single-family building increased by 0.1% in March, continuing to rise after a five-month decrease from April to August 2024.

However, single-family construction spending was 0.8% lower than a year earlier.

Multifamily building spending remained flat in March, maintaining the decreasing trend that began in December 2023. It was down 12.1% since March 2024.

The graph below shows the NAHB construction spending index.

The indicator shows how spending on single-family construction has declined since early 2024 as a result of rising interest rates and concerns about building material tariffs.

Multifamily construction spending growth has likewise declined from its peak in July 2023. Meanwhile, upgrade investment has accelerated since late 2023.

Spending on private nonresidential construction increased by 1.6% from a year ago.

The annual rise in private nonresidential spending was mostly attributable to higher spending in the power category ($8.7 billion), followed by manufacturing ($8.1 billion).

[Read more about this topic on Eyeonhousing.org]

Jack is one of our correspondents who provide mainly on building industry trend updates.