U.S. construction spending rose 0.9% in August 2026 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.2031 trillion, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, October 1. The increase followed a revised July rate of $2.1845 trillion. Despite the monthly gain, total spending was 1.7% below the August 2025 estimate of $2.2420 trillion.
For the first eight months of 2026, construction spending totaled an estimated $1.4504 trillion, down 3.1% from the same period in 2025. The monthly figures are seasonally adjusted annual rates, meaning they express the month’s pace as though it continued for a full year; they are not the amount spent during August alone.
Private construction led the monthly increase
Private construction rose 1.1% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.6553 trillion. Private residential spending also increased 1.1%, reaching a $882.3 billion annual rate, while private nonresidential construction rose 1.0% to $773.0 billion.
Within the detailed estimates, private office construction increased 4.6% from July and 29.8% from a year earlier. Total office construction, including public projects, was up 3.9% for the month and 24.6% from August 2025.
Other categories showed a mixed picture. Total power construction rose 0.8% for the month and 8.5% over the year. Manufacturing construction was approximately unchanged from July and 19.2% lower than a year earlier. Private single-family construction increased 0.2% from July but remained 3.5% below its year-earlier rate.
Public spending was little changed
Public construction was estimated at a $547.8 billion annual rate, 0.2% above July. Education construction edged up 0.1% to $113.1 billion, while highway construction also increased 0.1% to $150.6 billion.
Those small changes should be treated cautiously. Census reported confidence intervals that include zero for total public, education and highway construction, meaning the estimated movements are not statistically distinguishable from no change at the agency’s stated confidence level. The 1.1% gain in residential construction also carried a confidence interval wide enough to include zero.
How to interpret the release
The rebound indicates that nominal construction outlays were higher in August than in July after seasonal adjustment. It does not by itself show that the physical volume of construction grew by the same amount, because the estimates are reported in current dollars and can be affected by changes in labor and material costs.
The year-over-year decline and the first-eight-months decrease also show that the monthly gain has not erased the broader shortfall relative to 2025. Sector differences matter: office and power construction were stronger than a year ago, while manufacturing and single-family construction remained lower.
The report lands alongside a housing market in which sellers have been using more price reductions. For a separate measure of housing-market conditions, read AskNovus’s review of September home-price cuts and mortgage rates. Broader economic context is available in the latest U.S. GDP revision and August consumer-spending and inflation report.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, Value of Construction Put in Place, released October 1, 2026
- MarketWatch, U.S. market reaction to October 1 economic data, October 1, 2026
Featured image: Frames For Your Heart via Unsplash. The photograph is illustrative and does not depict a project measured in the Census release.