During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $457.4 billion, 8.6 percent above the $421.1 billion for the same period in 2005.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $939.4 billion, 0.6 percent below the revised April estimate of $945.4 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $651.2 billion in May, 0.8 percent below the revised April estimate of $656.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $288.2 billion in May, 0.3 percent below the revised April estimate of $289 billion.

?EUR??,,????'??Private residential construction dropped 0.8 percent and private nonresidential spending fell 0.3 percent for the month, more than offsetting a rise of 0.7 percent in public construction,?EUR??,,????'?? Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America observed. ?EUR??,,????'??But nonresidential construction remained much stronger than a year ago. Private nonresidential construction was down slightly from April to May but up 13 percent compared to May 2005. Every category was in the plus column year-to-date.

In May, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $266.8 billion, 0.7 percent above the revised April estimate of $265.1 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $69.1 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised April estimate of $68.8 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.7 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised April estimate of $74.6 billion.