August was not the building month many in the United States had hoped for.
Figures released Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed construction spending unexpectedly fell in August for the second straight month to its lowest level in eight months, driven by weakness across public and private sectors.
The successive declines suggest home building might not help economic growth in the third quarter.
The department said construction spending dropped 0.7% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.142 trillion U.S., the lowest since December 2015. Economists had expected outlays to rise 0.2%.
Washington also revised downward its estimate for July, saying spending declined 0.3% rather than the initial estimate that outlays were unchanged.
In August, private construction spending fell 0.3%, with outlays on residential construction down by the same amount. The figures also show spending on private non-residential structures fell 0.4% in August.
Public construction spending dropped 2% in August to the lowest level since March 2014, with lower spending reported for highways and schools.
