Census, November 2: residential spending down 5.5% in a month
Private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $848.8 billion in September 2026, 5.5% (±1.3%) below the revised August figure of $898.0 billion and 8.9% below September 2025. Total construction spending fell 1.9% in the month to $2,186.1 billion. Over the first nine months of the year, residential spending was 4.5% below the same period of 2025.
New single-family spending was $403.4 billion in both months, and new multifamily was $115.9 billion against $115.8 billion. The rest of private residential, which the Census Bureau does not show separately in this table and which includes private home improvements, went from about $378.7 billion in August to about $329.5 billion in September (our subtraction from Table 1), a fall of roughly 13%.
The Census Bureau itself warns that monthly changes are often irregular, that a trend for a specific category can take as long as eight months to show, and that September is a first estimate that will be revised. Sources also point different ways: last week's GDP report counted improvement spending up 2.7% in the third quarter (a quarterly measure from the GDP accounts), while today's monthly dollar figure for September is down. Both will be revised.
Why a small contractor should care: if homeowners really pulled back in September, you will feel it as fewer signed jobs in October and November, before any report confirms it.
What to do this week: count the remodeling jobs you signed in September and October and compare them with the same two months last year. If you are behind, do not wait for the next report: text the clients you did work for in the last two years and offer the smaller jobs they mentioned and did not do. The next construction spending report is due on December 1.
Where WorkTime CRM helps with this
The Pipeline board shows every client in their stage with the estimate total on the card, so the work waiting on a signature is in one view. In the client list you can filter clients by status and send them one Broadcast message.
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