U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly Decreases In November

(RTTNews) - Construction spending in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday.

The report said construction spending fell 0.4 percent to an annual rate of $1.123 trillion in November from the revised October estimate of $1.127 trillion. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.7 percent.

The unexpected drop was partly due to a steep decline in spending on public construction, which slumped 1.0 percent to annual rate of $294.3 billion.

Spending on state and local construction slipped 0.4 percent to a rate of $270.3 billion, while spending on federal construction tumbled 7.2 percent to a rate of $24.0 billion.

The Commerce Department said spending on private construction also edged down by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $828.2 billion.

Spending on non-residential construction fell 0.7 percent to a rate of $400.3 billion, while spending on residential construction rose 0.3 percent to a rate of $427.9 billion.

Despite the monthly decrease, the Commerce Department noted total construction spending in November was up by 10.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago.