Chicago, IL (PRWEB) May 02, 2014 -- Construction spending in March 2014 reached a seasonally adjusted rate of $942.5 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in a May 1st report. CF Funding is happy to share that construction saw a slight increase—about 0.2 percent above the revised February estimate of $940.8 billion—however, the increase was so minute that many experts considered the change “flat.” The lender hopes to see more construction spending in 2014 as Americans take advantage of the improved economy by renovating and building new homes.
In comparison to one year ago, March 2014’s figure was 8.4 percent higher than March 2013—a great improvement. The first quarter of 2014 has totaled about $196.6 billion in construction spending, which is 8.3 percent (±1.5 percent) higher than the first quarter 2013. Private construction reached 679.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is about 0.5 percent above the revised February estimate. Public construction spending reached $262.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is about 0.6 percent lower than the revised February estimate.
Residential construction reached $369.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is an increase of about 0.8 percent (2.8 billion) from February’s $367 billion. CF Funding is happy to see residential spending increase, and expects this number to continue to rise over the next few years.
As seen in the chart, single-family home construction increased by 16.3% on a 3-month average basis, multifamily construction increased by 30.8 percent, and remodeling increased by 12.8 percent. As CF Funding has mentioned before, the increase in remodeling may be due in part to an increase in home prices over the past year, which allowed many homeowners to regain equity in their homes and refinance or gain access to more credit.
In other housing news, fixed mortgage rates “continue to seesaw” according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released today. A 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.29 percent for the week ending May 1. 15-year Fixed Rate mortgages averaged 3.38 percent, down slightly from last week’s 3.39 percent. A 5 year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged about 3.05 percent, up slightly from last week’s 3.03 percent. Lastly, a 1-year Trasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.45 percent, up slightly from last week’s 2.44 percent.
For more mortgage rate information, visit the CFFunding.com
Giorgio U Ferrero, CF Funding, +1 (847) 338-6062, [email protected]
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