Total Construction Spending Falls in June

Total U.S. construction spending fell by 0.3 percent in June, according to statistics released by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The drop to a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.18 trillion was the first decline in overall spending since January, according to the Commerce Department.

For the past few months, nonresidential construction gains have been enough to offset a lagging private residential market. However, in June private nonresidential construction rose 0.3 percent to a $347 annual rate. That increase was not enough to offset the slip in private residential construction, which fell 0.7 percent to a $544 billion annual rate.

Public construction increased to $285 billion.

Total construction spending is down 2.4 percent from June of last year. Private residential construction has fallen 16.4 percent during that period, while private nonresidential construction has risen 17.4 percent.

More information is available at www.census.gov.