Construction Spending Drop First in 6 Months

Construction spending fell 1.5 percent in June, the first drop insix months, the government said today.

A 5.7 percent decline in government construction and a 0.9percent drop in private non-residential projects more than offset a1.1 percent increase in residential construction, the CommerceDepartment said.

The over-all decline, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of$416.9 billion, followed five consecutive increases, and was thelargest since construction fell 1.8 percent in May, 1991.

Still, spending in June was 5.7 percent higher than a yearearlier. Spending during the first half of 1992 was 4.7 percenthigher than spending during the first six months …