Construction Posts Big Decline

The slowing of the housing market is a key reason why construction outlays fell 1 percent in October to an annualized pace of $1.178 trillion. There was a 1.9-percent drop in spending on residential projects during the month, following a 1.4-percent decrease in September. Total construction expenditures in September had been revised to -0.8 percent from -0.3 percent. The overall decline in construction spending in October, which was worse than market observers had anticipated, proved to be the steepest drop since September 2001.