Dive summary:

• Spending on residential construction in the U.S. was down slightly from March to April, pulled back by a public-sector decrease of 5.4% that overcame private-sector spending increases of 1.4% for single-family homes and 3.4% for multifamily construction, U.S. Census Bureau figures show.
• Year-to-year spending for April was up 18.3%, however, to an annual pace of $308.3 billion, and a big part of the came in a rocketing 48.6% gain in private-sector multifamily housing construction – to $19.6 billion.
• The jump in multifamily construction maintains the sector's leadership in the housing recovery as developers and builders keep pushing to meet demand for rental housing created during the financial crisis and the foreclosures that accompanied it.

From the article:

It may take 2 months to establish an underlying trend for total construction and as long as 8 months for specific categories of construction. ...