Pre-Shutdown Nonresidential Construction Spending Down in August

Considering nonresidential construction spending was down before the 43-day government shutdown, that does not bode well for numbers when data returns.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17—National nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.2% in August, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.24 trillion.

Spending was down on a monthly basis in 10 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending was down 0.3%, while public nonresidential construction spending was down 0.1% in August.

“Nonresidential construction spending contracted for the third time in the past four months in August and is now down 1.5% year over year,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The manufacturing and commercial categories have been particularly weak in 2025, while momentum remains confined almost exclusively to the data center segment. This should come as no surprise given that approximately 1 in 7 ABC members are under contract to work on a data center, and those contractors have significantly higher backlog than those that are not, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator survey.

“Of course, this data pertains to August and reflects neither the effects of the government shutdown nor the cost-raising potential of tariffs that were implemented at the start of that month,” said Basu. “With private nonresidential activity buckling under the weight of high borrowing costs, extraordinarily elevated uncertainty and rising materials costs, a slowdown in public sector work could lead to a particularly difficult few quarters for the industry.”