Construction Spending Skyrockets in August

WASHINGTON - August construction spending soared to the highest level on record, according to the Commerce Department.

The department reported Friday that the value of buildings put in place for August came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.02 trillion, a record high. That represented a 0.8 percent increase in August from July's level.

The 0.8 percent advance was twice as big as the 0.4 percent increase the economists were forecasting. In more encouraging news, July's performance turned out to be even stronger than previously estimated. Revised figures showed that construction spending jumped by 1.1 percent in July from the previous month.

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Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $777.7 billion, 1.4 percent above the revised July estimate of $766.8 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $550.6 billion in August, 1.7 percent above the revised July estimate of $541.5 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $227 billion in August, 0.8 percent of the revised July estimate of $225.3 billion.

In August, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $237.6 billion, one percent below the revised July estimate of $240.1 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally annual rate of $62.9 billion, two percent below the revised July estimate of $64.2 billion. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $64.7 billion, 2.9 percent below the revised July estimate of $66.6 billion.