The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during December 2012 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $855 billion which is a slight increase over November 2012. However, construction spending is up slightly, at 7.8% over the December estimate of $820 billion.

The biggest gains in construction spending were in the private sector; the December 2012 seasonally adjusted rate for the private sector was $614.9 billion. This was a 2% increase over construction spending in November.

Construction spending by local, state and the federal government declined 1.4% over the past month.

For more information on construction spending data and statistics please visit the U.S. Census Bureau.