Construction outlays dipped slightly in June

Construction spending slipped May to June, dropping to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $883.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau News reported Thursday. Total construction spending in May was revised from a previously released $874.9 billion to $889.4 billion. For June, total outlays came in 0.6 percent lower than May's revised figure and 3.3 percent above June 2012, when the annual rate came to $855.8 billion. In June, spending on private-sector projects totaled $622.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, 0.4 percent below the revised May figure of $625.4 billion. In the month, a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $322.1 billion was spent on residential projects, nearly unchanged from May, while private spending on commercial projects came to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $290.8 billion, slightly below the previous month. The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in June was $261.1 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised $264 billion estimate for May. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $59.9 billion, a slight drop from May, while highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $75 billion, down 2.8 percent below May's revised estimate of $77.1 billion, the department said.