With a decrease in spending on private construction more than offsetting a jump in spending on public construction, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing U.S. construction spending fell by more than expected in the month of July.
The report showed construction spending dropped 0.4 percent to an annual rate of $1.777 trillion in July after falling by 0.5 percent to a revised rate of $1.784 trillion in June.
Economists had expected construction spending to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the 1.1 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.
The bigger than expected decrease in total construction spending came as spending on private construction slid by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $1.424 trillion.
Spending on residential construction spending tumbled by 1.5 percent to a rate of $920.4 billion, more than offsetting a 0.4 percent increase in spending on non-residential construction to a rate of $503.9 billion.
Meanwhile, the report showed spending on public construction jumped by 1.5 percent to an annual rate of $353.1 billion, reflecting a 4.3 percent spike in spending on highway construction to a rate of $102.7 billion.
