U.S. construction spending reaches high ground in November

November had seen construction spending in the United States advance to a record peak. The expansion was mainly from an upbeat housing market despite historically low mortgage rates. Moreover, this could possibly minimize the coronavirus drag that the country has been experiencing.

Construction spending jumped 0.9% to $1.459 trillion, the Commerce Department said on Monday. The figure came as the strongest reading since the government started data monitoring in 2002. For October, the initial reading of 1.3% was revised to show a 1.6% increase.  

The strong reading came parallel with economists’ forecast for a 5% annualized jump in the fourth quarter. However, this came lower than the 33.4% growth seen in the third quarter as coronavirus cases surged to record highs.