U.S. Construction Spending Climbs Slightly More Than Expected In August

(RTTNews) - Construction spending in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of August, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The report said construction spending climbed 0.7 percent to an annual rate of $1.086 trillion in August from the revised July estimate of $1.079 trillion. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.6 percent.

With the bigger than expected increase, the annual rate of construction spending rose to its highest level since May of 2008.

The increase in total construction spending was partly due to a jump in spending on residential construction, which surged up by 1.3 percent to a rate of $383.3 billion.

Spending on non-residential construction also crept up by 0.2 percent to $404.7 billion, helping push spending on private construction up by 0.7 percent to $788.0 billion.

Additionally, the report said spending on public construction rose by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of $298.2 billion.

The Commerce Department noted that total construction spending was up by 13.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago.