Construction Spending Dips 1.1% in June

Construction spending slipped 1.1% in June, to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of $591.5 billion, after advances of 0.3% in May and 0.4% in April, the Commerce Department reported. It is the first drop since January and the steepest since December. The decrease was attributed to declines in housing and commercial building, the department said. Analysts saw the drop as a one-month minor contraction and say they expect continued growth this year. Nonresidential commercial has been the strongest construction category this year, rising 5.7% from a year ago. That compares with 5.5% for government construction and 2.5% for housing. That pattern is to be expected, since housing construction last year recorded its strongest gain in eight years, and other types of building typically follow housing construction.