Dive Brief:

• Not for the first time, spending on single-family and multifamily residential construction were enough to bring in an increase in March in total construction spending.
• The annual rate posted for the month was $943 billion, which was 0.2% over February.
• Private residential construction put in place was up 0.5% from February when a single-family growth of 0.2% and a multifamily growth of 4.4% are combined.

Dive Insight:

Still-shrinking public-sector construction will probably remain the trend this year, Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors, said. "There appears to be plenty of demand for more apartments and many categories of private nonresidential construction," Simonson said. "Single-family homebuilding should remain above year-ago levels, although growing much more slowly as the year progresses."