Nationwide nonresidential construction spending decreased by 0.4% in the month of October, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of recent U.S. Census Bureau data. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.228 trillion.

October’s spending declined in 11 of 16 nonresidential subcategories. For the private nonresidential sector, spending decreased by 0.3% while public nonresidential construction spending declined by 0.5%.

“Some of October’s nonresidential weakness and residential strength can be attributed to hurricanes Helene and Milton,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said about the figures. “The storms stalled work on several projects in North Carolina and Florida and initiated a massive increase in residential repair work. Construction of new housing units is actually down slightly over the past year, while spending on renovations and repairs is up by a robust 18.5%.

“The effects of these storms on construction spending dynamics should largely dissipate by the end of the year,” Basu added. “Given that a majority of contractors expect their sales to increase over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, there’s reason to expect nonresidential construction spending to rebound in the coming months.”

The ABC analysis of October’s construction input price data can also be found here.