Reuters has reported that the U.S. construction spending actually fell in December 2016. The main reason for this is the fact that the investment in private projects has risen while the public outlays have reduced.

The Commerce Department has confirmed that the construction spending fell by 0.2 percent to $1.18 trillion. Interestingly, the spending had risen by 0.9 percent in November 2016. Earlier, economists had projected that the spending will increase by 0.2 percent in December. The spending increased 4.5 percent in 2016 but it had surged more, 10.6 percent in 2015.

In December 2016, the spending on private construction projects gained 0.2 percent. It has succeeded in reaching the highest level since July of 2006. The main reason behind the increase is that there has been a 0.5 percent rise in spending on residential projects. Investments in the nonresidential structures have remained unchanged.

In December 2016, the public construction spending fell by 1.7 percent. It had been rising consecutively for four months prior to that. Only federal government construction spending has increased by 6.1 percent while the outlays on state and local government projects fell by 2.4 percent.

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