WASHINGTON - Construction spending was down 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted estimated annual rate of $808.9 billion in February, following a 0.8% decline in January, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
The February rate fell from the downwardly revised January estimate of $818.1 billion, originally reported as 827.0 billion. The February figure was 5.8% above the February 2011 estimate of $764.2 billion.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a 0.6% increase in the rate from January to February.
Total construction spending through the first two months of 2012 was $111.3 billion, the Commerce Department said, 7.4% above the $103.7 billion spent through the first two months of 2011.
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted estimated rate of $527.3 billion in February, down 0.8% from the revised January estimate of $531.7 billion.
Residential construction was $246.5 billion in February, nearly the same as the revised rate of $246.4 billion for January. Nonresidential construction was $280.8 billion, 1.6% below the revised January estimate of $285.3 billion.
Public construction spending was $281.6 billion, 1.7% below the revised January estimate of $286.4 billion.
