WASHINGTON — Construction spending fell by 1.1% in June, below the 0.2% gain expected, as both residential and nonresidential construction saw declines, but nonresidential fell by a larger 1.6%, data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday morning showed.
Analysts surveyed by MNI had expected total construction spending to rise by 0.2% after a modest gain of 0.4% in May. May was revised up to a 1.3% gain, April construction was revised up to a 1.7% increase, while March was unrevised at a 0.9% decline.
Private residential construction fell by 0.5% in the month, following a 1.3% gain in May. Home building ex. new homes, also known as remodeling, saw a 0.1% gain, according to an MNI calculation.
Also based on an MNI calculation, total new homes fell by 0.8%. Single-family building was down 0.4%, while multi-family building posted a 2.8% loss.
In addition to the loss in private residential, private nonresidential construction fell by 0.3% in June. The main drivers of the category were declines in commercial (off 2.2%), communication (down 0.9%), and power ( down0.3%).
Following an upward May revision to a 3.0% rise, public construction spending fell 3.5% in June.
The decline in public construction was driven by a large 11.0% drop in education, as well as declines in most other categories.
State and local construction declined 3.5% in the month. Federal construction was also down 3.1%.
