Construction spending, both public and private, dropped 1.3 percent in June.  Spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.21 trillion compared to the May estimate of $1.22 trillion, an upward revision of 0.3 percent from the original number.  June's spending remained 1.6 percent higher than a year earlier.

The report from the U.S. Census Bureau came in way below analysts' estimates.  Those polled by Econoday estimated spending would range from "unchanged" to a 1.0 percent gain; the consensus was 0.5 percent.  Econoday said of the report that it had much in common with the month's personal income and outlays report also issued on Tuesday in that it had "lack of any apparent life."

On a non-adjusted basis, there was $109.38 billion in construction put in place during the month compared to $104.59 billion in May.  During the first six months of the year, construction spending was $577.05 billion, up 4.8 percent from the same period in 2016.

Privately funded spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $940.72 billion, down 0.1 percent from the revised May estimate of $941.30 billion. Residential spending dropped by 0.2 percent, however the loss was due entirely to slipping numbers in the multifamily sector. That spending was down 2.9 percent, offsetting an 0.3 percent gain in single-family construction. Single family spending was also up 9.0 percent from June 2016 and multifamily spending was slightly positive at 0.6 percent year-over-year.

On a non-adjusted basis, there was $84.21 billion spent in June for all privately funded construction and year to date that spending is up 8.0 percent from the same period last year.  Residential spending during the month was $46.62 billion of which $23.28 billion was single family and $5.29 billion was multifamily.  In the first six months of this year private spending on single family building was $121.55 billion, an annual increase of 7.6 percent, and multifamily spending remains 5.5 percent ahead of last year at $31.11 billion.

Publicly funded spending was responsible for most of the construction losses in June.  Total spending was $265.07 billion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, down 5.4 percent from May and 9.5 percent year-over-year. Residential spending, never a significant part of the total, was $5.90 billion annualized, a 5.8 percent downturn from May and 8.3 percent less than in June 2016.