Washington, DC, Sept. 4--Spending on construction ventures around the country increased in July to the highest level seen since the beginning of the year, a promising sign for the economy's anticipated second-half rebound.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the value of building projects under way clocked in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $879.8 billion in July, representing a modest 0.2 percent increase from June's level.
Although July's increase wasn't as big as the 0.5 percent rise that economists were predicting, June's performance turned out even better than the government previously estimated. Revised figures show that construction spending went up by a brisk 0.7 percent in June from May, compared with the 0.3 percent advance first estimated.
The $879.8 billion pace of construction spending in July marked the highest level since January, when such spending stood at $883.2 billion on an annualized basis.
The construction spending report showed that spending by private builders on all types of projects rose by a solid 0.5 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $664.2 billion, the highest level since March.
Private builders saw gains in residential projects as well as communications and power facilities. Those gains were tempered by weakness elsewhere, including declines in spending on hotels and motels, and office buildings.
Spending by the government on big public works projects, meanwhile, dropped by 0.4 percent in July to a rate of $215.7 billion. The government cut spending on schools, highways and streets. That outweighed increased spending on other projects including public safety facilities and hospitals and other health-care buildings.
