The U.S. Census Bureau reported this morning that construction spending in February rose by 1.2% to an estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of $885.1 billion from a downwardly revised estimate of $874.8 billion in January. Compared with February 2012, spending is up 7.9%. For all of 2012, construction spending rose 9.9% year-over-year.

Spending on private residential construction rose 2.2% to $303.4 billion, compared with the revised January total of $296.9 billion. Private nonresidential construction rose 0.4% month-over-month, and total private spending rose 1.3% to $613 billion.

In the private sector, single-family residential construction is 34.1% higher than it was a year ago and multifamily construction is up 51.8% from January 2012. Private commercial construction is up 7.3% year-over-year.

In the public sector, total spending is down 1.5% year-over-year, continuing a slide begun in September 2012. Spending on educational facilities fell 0.3% month-over-month and 8.4% from January 2012 spending. Public residential construction fell 4.9% month-over-month and is 11.7% lower year-over-year.

The primary reason for the increase in private construction in February was the downward revision in the January estimate. The February total of $885.1 billion is almost flat with the original January estimate of $883.3 billion. Multifamily residential construction is down month-over-month even though it remains substantially higher than it was a year ago.

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