U.S. construction spending declined 0.4 percent in May as home building continued to shrink, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
The May decline followed a revised 0.1-percent rise in April, which had originally been estimated as a 0.4-percent plunge.
Total construction spending in May was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.1085 trillion U.S. dollars, or 6.0 percent below the level of one year ago.
In May, private builders cut their spending on residential construction by 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 378.9 billion dollars.
Spending by private builders on a range of commercial projects, including shopping centers, office buildings, hotels and motels, increased 0.2 percent in May to an annual rate of 405.3 billion dollars, an all-time high.
Construction spending by the government was 301.1 billion dollars at an annual rate in May, up 0.4 percent from the revised April level.
During the first five months of this year, U.S. construction spending amounted to 416.6 billion dollars, 5.1 percent below the level of the same period in 2007.
The once-sizzling U.S. housing market has slid into the worst slump in over two decades. Analysts believe that housing will keep falling until a record glut of unsold homes is reduced.
Source:Xinhua
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