WASHINGTON - Construction spending fell 0.6% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $900.1 billion, the seventh consecutive monthly decline, the Commerce Department reported today.
Economists expected construction spending to fall 0.4% in November, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Spending in October was revised down to a 0.5% decline from the flat level initially reported.
Construction spending has not increased since April. Through the first 11 months of 2009, construction spending fell 12.7% from the same period in 2008.
Private residential construction declined 1.6%, the largest drop since June. The figure jumped 4.8% in October, revised higher from the 4.4% initially reported. Nonresidential private construction was unchanged for November and fell 4.8% in October.
Total private construction fell 0.7% in November and 0.8% in October. The figure has declined for eight consecutive months.
Public construction fell 0.4% as federal construction increased 1.1% and state and local spending decreased 0.5%.
