The value of construction put-in-place slipped 0.1% during February following a 1.7% drop in January, revised from -1.1%. No change had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.

Private construction activity gained 0.2% (1.8% y/y) after its 1.1% January drop. Nonresidential building activity improved 0.5% (5.9% y/y). Office construction rose 2.7% (22.8% y/y) but commercial building fell 2.4% (+13.1% y/y). Multi-retail declined 3.1% (-1.7% y/y). Residential building slipped 0.2% (-2.1% y/y), reversing a 0.2% January rise. Single-family building fell 1.4% (+9.7% y/y) while multi-family construction jumped 4.1% (31.5% y/y). Spending on improvements edged 0.3% higher (-28.4% y/y).

Public sector building activity eased 0.8% (+3.1% y/y) following a 3.2% drop. Nonresidential building fell 0.8% (+2.9% y/y) but commercial construction rebounded 12.0% (26.5% y/y) after an 8.4% drop. Power construction fell 16.0% (-19.7% y/y) while highways and streets construction edged 0.2% lower (+2.8% y/y). Construction here amounts to 32% of public sector building activity.

The construction spending figures are in Haver's USECON database and the expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.