WASHINGTON - Construction spending was down 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted estimated annual rate of $827.0 billion in January, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The January rate fell from the revised December estimate of $827.6 billion but was 7.1% above the January 2011 estimate of $772.0 billion.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a median 1.0% increase in the rate from December to January.
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted estimated rate of $538.7 billion in January, the same as the revised December estimate.
Residential construction was $253.6 billion in January, 1.8% above the revised rate of $249.2 billion for December and the highest since January 2010, when it was $254.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was $285.0 billion, 1.5% below the revised December estimate of $289.5 billion.
Public construction spending was $288.3 billion, 0.2% below the revised December estimate of $289.0 billion.
