A plunge in home-improvement spending caused U.S. construction spending to dip 0.9 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual estimate of $834.4 billion from the revised June estimate of $842.2 billion, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce released today. Still, the July figure is 9.3 percent above the July 2011 estimate of $763.5 billion.
According to Bloomberg, remodeling spending fell 5.5 percent in July. July marked the first time in four months that overall construction spending declined.
Spending on private construction was at a rate of $558.7 billion, 1.2 percent below the revised June estimate of $565.6 billion. Residential construction was at a rate of $264.6 billion in July, 1.6 percent below the revised June estimate of $268.9 billion.
"The recovery will take place in fits and starts," Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics Inc., told Bloomberg, adding that, "the improvement should continue this year. There is pent-up demand for homes."
