{"id":35406,"date":"2026-05-13T17:02:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-spending-slips-again-despite-data-center-strength\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:02:35","slug":"construction-spending-slips-again-despite-data-center-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-spending-slips-again-despite-data-center-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction spending slips again despite data center strength"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?313321260226\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<\/p>\n<p>            <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">2 min<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/820180\/2026-05-13_16.33.46\/construction-spending-slips-again-data-center-strength.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/News-Media\/News-Releases\/abc-nonresidential-construction-spending-down-again-in-march\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nonresidential construction spending slipped 0.2%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in March, according to an analysis by the Associated Builders and Contractors of U.S. Census Bureau data.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Both public and private nonresidential spending fell 0.2% month to month in March, including drops in nine of the 16 nonresidential subcategories, according to the report.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The ongoing slowdown in spending, initially concentrated in manufacturing work, has started to hit other sectors. \u201cWhile a large portion of the ongoing decline is due to steadily falling manufacturing-related construction activity, weakness is becoming more widespread,\u201d said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist, in the release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The downturn now stretches across both public and private construction activity, according to ABC. Private construction, in particular, has dropped more than 2% on a year-over-year basis, said Basu.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cWith the exception of the ongoing boom in data center construction, there are few sources of momentum,\u201d said Basu.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Spending on manufacturing projects dropped 1.1% month to month in March and is down 17% over the past year. Expenditures on highway and street construction dropped as well, down 0.2% month to month in March, according to the data. Overall commercial spending also ticked down 0.2% during the same period.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"-\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abc.org\/Portals\/1\/CEU\/Spending_Table_5.7.26.jpg?ver=KpA7Xn0-FCad8VKAGHPf-A%3d%3d\"><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>But slowdowns elsewhere haven&#8217;t affected the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/data-center-largest-driver-growth-construction-planning\/819879\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>pace of data center construction<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, noted the report. In fact, spending on data center construction jumped 34.3% year over year, according to Basu. Many contractors in the space expect that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/aecom-profit-boost-data-center-defense-spending\/820031\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>level of activity<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to continue.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cDespite this ongoing weakness, however, contractors remain optimistic about the outlook,\u201d Basu said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Projects related to data centers, such as those in the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agc.org\/news\/2026\/05\/07\/construction-spending-inches-06-percent-march-residential-gains-offset-continued-weakness\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>power sector<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, also posted strong numbers, said Macrina Wilkins, director of market insights for the Associated General Contractors of America. Spending on power construction ticked up 4.6% compared to March 2025, according to the AGC report.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cConstruction growth remains concentrated in a narrow set of categories,\u201d said Wilkins. \u201cInvestment tied to data centers and power projects continue to support activity, but several traditional nonresidential segments, including manufacturing and commercial construction, continue to lag.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/construction-spending-slips-again-data-center-strength\/820180\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive &#8230; <a title=\"Construction spending slips again despite data center strength\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/construction-spending-slips-again-despite-data-center-strength\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Construction spending slips again despite data center strength\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}