Construction spending retreats 0.6% in December

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that construction spending during December 2018 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.29 trillion, retreating 0.6% from the revised November estimate of $1.3 trillion. Notably, December’s spending is 1.6% above the December 2017 estimate of $1.27 trillion. Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $991.2 billion, 0.6% below the revised November estimate of $997.1 billion. Of that, residential construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $536.7 billion in December, which is 1.4% below the revised November estimate of $544.2 billion.