U.S. Construction Spending Edges Up 0.2% In March, Less Than Expected

(RTTNews) - With a drop in spending on public construction partly offsetting an increase in spending on private construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. construction spending rose by less than expected in the month of March.

The report said construction spending rose by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $942.5 billion in March after falling by 0.2 percent to a revised $940.8 billion in February.

Economists had expected spending to increase by about 0.6 percent compared to the 0.1 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

The modest increase in construction spending was largely due to an increase in spending on private construction, which rose 0.5 percent to an annual rate of $679.6 billion.

Spending on residential construction climbed 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $369.8 billion, while spending on non-residential construction edged up 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $309.8 billion.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department said spending on public construction fell 0.6 percent to an annual rate of $262.9 billion.

Spending on state and local construction spending edged down 0.4 percent to an annual rate of $239.7 billion, while spending on federal construction tumbled 2.4 percent to an annual rate of $23.2 billion.

The report also showed that spending on educational construction dropped 2.3 percent to an annual rate of $58.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department noted that the annual rate of total construction spending in March is 8.4 percent above the March 2013 estimate of $869.2 billion.