Total investment peaked at high levels before the last recession, only to drop substantially during the recession. Since then, we see a strong uptrend, with total investment now at the level of the peak from the 1990s expansion.
It should come as no surprise that residential investment has cratered after the housing bubble, falling from a little under $800 billion to a little above $300 billion. Also note that the overall trend of residential investment has been rising for about a year now.
In contrast, we see that non-residential investment is actually doing very well. It has been consistently rising for nearly three years and is almost at levels seen at the peak of the last expansion.
And finally, also note that equipment and software investment is now higher than it was at the end of the last recession. This area of investment has also been growing solidly for the last three years.
With the exception of the residential investment situation, overall investment has bounced back to fairly decent levels.
