For the third consecutive month, national spending on construction projects decreased, though slightly. The 0.1% drop resulted from larger declines in private home building (-0.5%) and nonresidential construction (-0.3%) while spending on government-sponsored endeavors gained 0.8%.

The Associated Press is reporting that public spending was up at the local, state and federal level. In the private nonresidential category, four of the 11 sectors reported increases including office (3.1%), religious (2.0%) and lodging (1.6%).

Compared to October 2017, total construction spending this past month was up 4.9%, with the private sector tallying a 3.9% gain and the public sector improving by 8.5%.

Since a peak in total construction put-in-place in May of this year, spending is down 1.2%.