By Kirk Maltais
U.S. construction spending rose in May, but not by as much as expected by surveyed analysts, according to the latest report from the Census Bureau.
In its monthly report published Wednesday, the agency said spending on building projects came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of $2.21 trillion in May, up 0.1% from a revised April estimate of $2.207 trillion. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast spending rising by 0.2%.
The annualized pace of private construction was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.67 trillion in May, virtually unchanged from the prior month. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $930.2 billion in May, up 0.3% from April.
Annualized spending in the public sector was $541.2 billion in May, which is 0.5% above the revised April estimate of $538.6 billion. $113.4 billion was spent on schools, up 0.6% from last month, and highway construction was $150.6 billion, up 0.6% from April.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com.