U.S. construction spending in public and private sectors 1993-2021

U.S. spending on private construction continued to grow in 2021 and was nearly three times larger than construction spending in the public sector. Texas and California were at the top of the ranking when observing construction spending within the 50 U.S. states. According to a forecast, the value of U.S construction put in place is expected to keep growing during the following years.

Road construction spending: predicted to grow

In November 2021, the infrastructure spending deal presented by the U.S. President Biden was approved by Congress. How did this bill, which increased investment on infrastructure significantly, affect the market of street and highway construction? The value of road construction until 2025 was expected to reach the highest recorded values since 2005. However, data suggest that the United States still needs to catch up: when comparing infrastructure spending as share of GDP across various countries worldwide, the average spending of the United States was much lower than that of many other countries.

How much have U.S. construction costs changed?

Construction costs for housing varied significantly per city, with single-family homes in Honolulu, San Francisco and New York among the most most expensive. Between 2016 and 2022, building costs grew in most of the U.S. big cities, reaching an increase of almost 50 percent in some cases during that timeframe. Whilst there are many reasons why this occurred – supply and demand, or local zoning rules making it difficult to build – there is one that became especially noticeable in the past years: the prices of many important building materials went up significantly.