Construction spending in the U.S. increased more than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.
The report said construction spending climbed 1.0 percent to an annual rate of $1.107 trillion in October from the revised September estimate of $1.097 trillion. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.6 percent.
With the bigger than expected increase, the annual rate of construction spending reached its highest level since December of 2007.
The stronger than expected growth was partly due to a notable increase in spending on public construction, which jumped 1.4 percent to an annual rate of $304.9 billion.
Spending on federal construction surged up by 19.2 percent to $27.6 billion, while spending on state and local construction edged down by 0.1 percent to $277.3 billion.
The Commerce Department said spending on private construction also climbed by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $802.4 billion.
Spending on residential construction increased by 1.0 percent to $399.0 billion, and spending on non-residential construction rose by 0.6 percent to $403.4 billion.
The report said total construction spending in October was up by 13.0 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com