Construction spending during
February 2009 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $967.5
billion, 0.9 percent below the revised January estimate of $976.2 billion,
according to the Commerce Department. January construction spending fell 3.5
percent.
As
reported on
CNN.com, analysts polled by
Reuters were expecting a 1.8 percent decline in
overall construction spending in February. Other economists had pegged the decline
at 1.5 percent.
During
the first two months of this year, the Commerce Department reported that
construction spending amounted to $135.5 billion, 10.9 percent below the $152
billion for the same period in 2008. The February figure is 10 percent below
the February 2008 estimate of $1,075.3 billion.
Private
construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $665.9
billion, 1.6 percent below the revised January estimate of $676.9 billion.
Residential construction was 4.3 percent below the January figures (almost 30
percent lower than February 2008); nonresidential construction was 0.3 percent
above the January figure of $389.5 billion (down 0.2 percent from last year).
Lodging
construction spending was up 4.7 percent from January figures, office
construction spending was up 1 percent, healthcare was up 2.1 percent,
manufacturing construction was up 4.1 percent, and amusement and recreation was
up 2.8 percent.
Spending
on private power construction was down 3.8 percent from January, but up 11.4
percent from February of last year. Commercial construction spending is down
1.9 percent, but has a 23.1 percent decline from last February.
