The strength came from big gains in government construction and commercial building activity. Housing construction fell for a third straight month.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $944.7 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised May estimate of $943.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $641,6 billion in June, one percent below the revised May estimate of $648.4 billion. Non-residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $303.1 billion in June, 2.7 percent above the revised May estimate of $295.2 billion.

?EUR??,,????'??There are many areas of strength on the private nonresidential side,?EUR??,,????'?? Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) said. ?EUR??,,????'??For instance, manufacturing spending surged eight percent for the month and 24 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to January-June 2005. Multi-retail, which includes shopping centers, malls and stand-alone general merchandise stores like ?EUR??,,????'??big-box?EUR??,,????'??? retailers, added 1.1 percent in June and 52 percent year-to-date. Lodging?EUR??,,????'??+hotels and resorts?EUR??,,????'??+jumped 8.7 percent for the month and 39 percent year-to-date. Transportation facilities were up 1.0 percent for the month and 28 percent year-to-date. Power plants had a 4.1 percent spurt in June and 13 percent in the first half. And hospital construction continued to soar, up 1.7 percent for the month and 29 percent for the first half.?EUR??,,????'??

Simonson noted that new private single-family construction tumbled 2.1 percent in June.

?EUR??,,????'??New private multi-family construction was up 0.1 percent, which probably reflects a rise in rental construction balancing out a drop in condo projects,?EUR??,,????'?? he said. ?EUR??,,????'??The volatile and hard-to-measure ?EUR??,,????'??improvements?EUR??,,????'??? category, covering renovations and additions, climbed 1.6 percent for the month but is down seven percent year-to-date.?EUR??,,????'??