Public monies shored up construction spending figures in June, just barely making up for a drop in expenditures from the private sector.  The U.S. Census Bureau said that overall construction spending rose a scant 0.1 percent from May to June with private construction spending down 0.5 percent and public spending rising 1.6 percent.

Overall construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,064.6 billion in June compared to a revised May estimate of 1,063.5 billion.  The June figure is 12 percent higher than a year earlier when total expenditures were at a rate of $950.3 billion.  It was the fourth consecutive month that the rate of annual spending topped a trillion dollars.

During the first six months of 2015 construction spending was estimated at $482.7 billion, 8.0 percent higher than the $446.8 billion spent during the same period in 2014.  On a non-seasonally adjusted based June spending was estimated at $96.6 billion compared to $90.8 billion in May.

Private sector expenditures for all categories of construction were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $766.4 billion compared to $770.0 billion in May and was 13.7 percent above the rate of $674.1 billion in June 2014.  Non-seasonally adjusted, the month's expenditures were $68.3 billion and year-to-date spending is 9.1 percent higher than last year; $354.5 billion to $325.0 billion.

Privately funded residential construction expenditures were at an annual rate of $371.6 billion, a month-over-month increase of 0.4 percent and an annual bump of 12.8 percent.  New single-family construction accounted for $210.9 billion and multi-family construction for $51.6 billion of total residential dollars.  The increase in new single-family construction is the same on an annual basis as residential construction overall, 12.8 percent, but multi-family construction was up 23.7 percent from a year earlier.

On a non-adjusted basis private residential spending in June totaled $34.5 billion, up from $32.7 billion the previous month.  Single family spending for the two months was $18.9 billion and $18.0 billion respectively while multi-family construction was $4.5 billion versus $4.2 billion.  Spending for the first six months of 2015 for all residential construction was 8.5 percent higher than a year earlier at $173.1 billion while single-family construction rose 13.6 percent and multi -family spending by 25.6 percent.

Total construction spending in the public sector rose 1.6 percent from May and 8.0 percent year-over-year to $298.2 billion.  Residential spending, while still only a small factor in the public sector, is running at an annual rate 29.2 percent higher than a year ago at $6.4 billion.  That figure, however, was down 3.8 percent from May.  Year-to-date public sector residential spending is up 30.5 percent from the same period last year.