U.S. General Office Construction Spending (Census, SAAR)

## What this measures

Spending on building general office space in the U.S. each month, from the Census Bureau's construction survey, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, in billions of dollars. It is the "General" line under private Office construction, which excludes data centers and financial offices. The series starts in January 2014, when Census began reporting data centers separately; before then they sat in this line.

## Why it matters

Office building tracks the demand for workspace, and the commercial property market that finances it. Beside data center construction it shows how spending inside the same Census category has shifted from desks to servers.

## How to read it

Higher means more office construction under way. Values are annual rates. Compare with construction.census.private.data_center, which covers the other main part of private Office construction.

## What it does not say

It is spending put in place, not new projects or leasing demand. It excludes financial offices and data centers. The newest month is preliminary and recent months are revised.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Construction Spending (C30), value of private construction put in place, seasonally adjusted annual rate. Public domain.