Spending on construction projects fell 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $964.0 billion in May as private construction decreased 1.0% and public construction slid 0.6%, according to Commerce Department figures released yesterday.
The overall decrease, which follows the 0.5% decrease projected by Thomson Reuters, followed a revised April level of $972.5 billion, a 0.6% increase from the prior month.
Spending on total private construction, fell 1.0% to $649.2 billion in May, compared with a 0.8% gain in April to $655.6 billion.
Total private construction was down 17.4% from May 2008.