Dive Brief:

• Census Bureau data showed that the nation put 0.2% more money into construction in April than in March, posting an annual rate of $954 billion and coming in 8.6% higher than the year-ago month.
• Apartment building was solid yet again, growing 4.4% over March and 31% over 2013, and single-family building was up 1.3% for the month.
• It gets fuzzier with nonresidential construction, as Associated General Contractors looked at the private-sector number and pronounced it was down 0.1%, and Associated Builders and Contractors looked at all nonresidential and pronounced the sector had risen 0.4%.

Dive Insight:

How the construction industry is doing in the recovery is sometimes a matter of what your interests are. Everyone seems to be able to agree, however, that whether it is due to weather or economics, the investment this year has been up in some areas and down in others – and it varies monthly by sector.