--US June construction spending -0.7%
--US June private construction spending -0.7%; public -0.6%
--US June private residential construction -0.7%
--US June private non-residential construction unchanged
--US May construction spending revised to -0.2% from +0.3%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, Aug. 1 (BridgeNews) - U.S. construction spending fell an unexpected 0.7% in June on declining activity in both the public and private sectors. The decline was the sharpest since July 2000. Private analysts had projected a 0.2% gain.
Construction spending, which feeds into the investment portion of GDP, was down a revised 0.2% in May, originally reported as a 0.3% increase, the Commerce Department said.
The sizable revision to May construction spending is in part due to annual benchmark revisions to the data. The revisions affect data "back to January 2001 to reflect corrections to previously published state and local government benchmark estimates," Commerce said.
June private construction was down 0.7%, compared with the 1.7% decrease of the previous month.
Private residential construction spending was also down 0.7% in June, after gaining 0.2% in May.
Spending on commercial construction and other private non-residential construction was flat in June, after dropping 6.5% in May. New building in the public sector was weak in June, with public construction moving down 0.6%, after a 5.4% gain the prior month.

WHAT WAS EXPECTED
Estimates for June construction outlays in the BridgeNews survey ranged from a 0.3% decrease to a 0.5% increase.

OTHER DETAILS
Construction spending totaled $861.6 billion in June at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. In inflation-adjusted 1996 dollars, which go into the GDP report, spending was down 1.0% versus May, at a seasonally adjusted $721.9 billion.