Construction spending dips as residential slump offsets

Tag : construction and building

For the 11th time in the past 12 months, construction spendingdipped across America.
According to the Commerce Department, construction spending wasdown 0.4 percent in May as the prolonged housing slump offsetstrength in nonresidential building.
Residential construction dollars dropped 1.6 percent, the 25thdecline in the last 26 months. As the backlog of unsold homesremains near record levels, home builders are slowing theirproduction. A growing number of foreclosures is forcing even moreproperties onto the market.
Private nonresidential construction inched up 0.2 percent,reflecting a big increase in spending on hotels and motels and asmaller advance in office construction.
Spending on government projects rose by 0.4 percent.