US Construction Spending Falls

U.S. construction spending fell for the first time in almost a year and a half in November as a drop in nonresidential investment offset an increase in housing outlays, the government said Monday.

The Commerce Department reported that construction spending dropped 0.4 percent, the first and biggest decline since June 2014, after a downwardly revised 0.3 percent gain in October.

The government revised construction data from January 2005 through October 2015 due to a "processing error in the tabulation of data." The revisions showed that construction spending was not as strong as previously reported for much of 2015.

Construction outlays were up 10.5 percent compared with November of last year. Construction spending in November was held down by a 0.8 percent drop in nonresidential construction.

Outlays on residential construction rose 0.2 percent.

Private construction spending declined 0.2 percent, but spending on private residential construction rose 0.3 percent.

Public construction outlays dropped 1.0 percent. Spending on state and local government construction projects, the largest portion of the public sector segment, slipped 0.4 percent. Federal government outlays tumbled 7.2 percent.