Construction spending increased 1.0 percent from October to November to a $934.4 billion annual rate, a 5.9 percent year-over-year gain that reached the highest spending level since March 2009. Residential and non-residential private construction increases more than compensated for a decline in public spending.

Construction spending in November reached its highest level in more than four years, as a surge in private construction offset a drop in public outlays.

Spending increased 1.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $934.4 billion, the highest level since March 2009, according to a January 2 report from the Commerce Department. Spending increased for the eighth consecutive month.

November spending was lifted by a jump in private construction projects to their highest level since December 2008. Private construction spending rose 2.2 percent after being flat in October, and residential builds rose 1.9 percent in November after an October decline. Spending on single-family homes has increased 18.4 percent since November 2012, and spending on apartment buildings is up 36.3 percent during the same period. Private outlays on nonresidential structures, which include factories and gas pipelines, touched an 11-month high.

Though the numbers seem good, a Business Insider report from Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics points out that spending levels in November and October were revised upward by 1.8 percent, and September's figures were revised up to 1.4 percent from the 0.3 percent previously reported. Within that September report, residential spending was revised up to 5.4 percent from 1.7. The ongoing revisions show that the data is "published far too early and are therefore deeply unreliable," Shepherdson said.

Public construction spending declined 1.8 percent as outlays on federal, state and local government projects declined.