US construction spending rose

Construction spending rose January to February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $885.1 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday. Total construction spending in January was revised to $874.8 billion from $883.3 billion, the bureau said. Overall, construction spending rose 1.2 percent month to month. Spending in February came to 7.9 percent above spending in February 2012, when $820.7 billion was spent on construction projects on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. For February, spending on private-sector projects totaled $613 billion, a gain of 1.3 percent over January's revised estimate of $605.2 billion. In the month, $303.4 billion was spent on residential projects and $309.6 billion spent on non-residential projects. Spending on residential projects was nearly up 2.2 percent January to February, while spending on private commercial projects rose 0.4 percent from January. The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in February was $272.1 billion, up 0.9 percent from the revised January estimate of $269.6 billion, the Census Bureau said. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $63.2 billion, down 0.3 percent from January, while highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $81.4 billion, up 3.4 percent from January.