U.S. Construction Spending Climbs To Seven-Year High In July

(RTTNews) - Reflecting a jump in spending on private construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that total U.S. construction spending reached its highest level in seven years in the month of July.

The report said construction spending climbed 0.7 percent to an annual rate of $1.083 trillion in July from the revised June estimate of $1.076 trillion in June. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.6 percent.

With the bigger than expected increase, the annual rate of construction spending rose to its highest level since May of 2008.

The increase in construction spending was primarily due to a jump in spending on private construction, which surged up 1.3 percent to an annual rate of $787.8 billion.

Spending on residential construction jumped 1.1 percent to an annual rate of $380.8 billion, while spending on non-residential construction soared 1.5 percent to a rate of $407.0 billion.

On the other hand, the report said spending on public construction fell 1.0 percent to an annual rate of $295.6 billion. The decrease partly reflected a sharp drop in spending on educational construction.

The Commerce Department noted that total construction spending was up by 13.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago.