U.S. construction spending advanced in March to its highest level in more than eight years as gains in home building and nonresidential construction offset a drop in government projects.
The Associated Press reports construction spending rose 0.3% in March after a 1% gain in February. The Commerce Department announced the figures this morning. The back-to-back increases raised total spending to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.14 trillion, the highest level since October 2007.
But the construction spending figure for January was revised down by the government to show a drop of 0.3% rather than a previously reported increase of 2.1%.
Last month, home construction increased at a 1.6% annual rate, while nonresidential construction increased 0.7%. Spending on government projects dropped 1.9%, with both state and local and federal spending falling.
Home construction was a bright spot last year for the U.S. economy, and that support is expected to continue through 2016.
Residential construction grew at a 14.8% annual pace in the first three months of the year. It was one of the few sources of strength in a quarter in which the overall economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.5%—the slowest pace in two years.
Single-family construction was flat in March. But multi-family activity, a more volatile sector, jumped 5.6%.
