Building sector activity continues to weaken. The value of construction put-in-place fell 1.3% (-2.0% y/y) during June following a 0.5% May decline, revised from -0.8. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.

Construction activity in the private sector fell 0.4% (-4.6% y/y), down for the fourth straight month. Residential construction declined 0.5% (-7.3% y/y), continuing a slide that began last year. The value of home improvements declined 0.5% (-10.2% y/y) and reversed the 0.7% May rise. Single-family building eased 0.7% (-8.5% y/y) and has been trending lower since early last year. Countering these declines was a 0.2% rise (10.1% y/y) in multi-family construction, the value of which was a record high.

Private nonresidential building activity declined 0.3% (-1.1% y/y) during June, down for the third consecutive month. Office construction improved 0.4% (8.9% y/y) while commercial building rose 1.3% (-11.8% y/y). Manufacturing building rose 0.9% (7.8% y/y). Health care construction improved 0.5% (4.8% y/y) but transportation sector building weakened 5.4% (+5.4% y/y). Power construction fell 2.1% (-4.9% y/y).

Public sector building activity declined 3.7% during June (+6.0% y/y) following a 1.2% slump. Construction of highways & streets fell 6.4% (+6.8% y/y). It accounts for roughly one-third of the dollar value of public building activity. Transportation sector building eased 0.3% (+8.5% y/y) while commercial construction rose 2.9% (+17.6% y/y). Health care building declined 3.4% (-11.7% y/y).

The construction spending figures, some of which date back to 1946, are in Haver's USECON database. The expectations reading can be found in the AS1REPNA database.