WASHINGTON — Construction spending rose 1.4% in August after a revised 1.4% decline in July, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had a median forecast of a 0.3% decline.
Total private construction was reported up 0.4% after a 1.4% drop in July.
Private-business-related construction rose 02% following a 0.3% July increase. The value of private nonresidential construction was still the highest since December 2009.
Private residential construction went up 0.7% after a 3.2% July decline.’
In the components broken out by the Commerce Department, new single-family homebuilding rose 0.8% and the highly variable multi-family housing construction rate was also up 0.8%.
Government construction rose 3.1% on a surprising 3.5% increase in state and local projects. Economists had expected a continued decline there because of continued budget-cutting. It was the biggest increase in state and local construction since a 3.8% increase in February 2009. Federal construction was down 0.5%.
