U.S. Construction Spending Declines

Total construction spending in the U.S. fell 0.3 percent in February, according to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The February 2008 figure is 3.5 percent below the estimate for the same month last year.

Private residential and nonresidential construction both posted declines in February, residential construction coming in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $456.9 billion, 0.9 percent below the January estimate, while nonresidential construction also fell 0.1 percent compared to January.

Public construction spending increased 0.4 percent from January, with highway construction increasing 0.9 percent over January’s estimate.

During the first two months of 2008, total construction spending was $155.1 billion, 2.6 percent below total spending for the same period in 2007.

More information is available at www.census.gov.