{
  "id": 4883814,
  "title": "US construction spending drops to nearly three-year low in July",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/us-construction-spending-drops-to-nearly-three-year-low-in-july",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-01T15:15:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Finance",
    "slug": "yahoo-finance",
    "url": "https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/us-construction-spending-drops-nearly-151536910.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In July, U.S. construction spending unexpectedly declined, reaching its lowest level in nearly three years, according to data released by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. The spending dropped 0.5% to reach $2.158 trillion, marking the lowest point since October 2023. Economists had predicted that construction spending would remain steady in July. A year-over-year comparison revealed a more significant decrease of 6.5%. The private sector witnessed the most substantial decline, with residential construction spending falling by 1.3%, particularly single-family housing projects which dropped by 3.2%. This downturn can be attributed to higher mortgage rates, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hovering near a one-year high of 6.66%, up by 70 basis points since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in late February. The housing market is also grappling with an excess of unsold single-family homes. However, spending on multi-family housing units saw a slight increase of 0.2%. Federal and state government construction spending both remained unchanged and declined, respectively, while private nonresidential structures experienced a 0.4% increase, primarily driven by power plant investments.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}