Construction spending in all building segments—including housing—rose in November 2011. Total spending reached $807 billion for the month, which is the highest it’s been in 17 months, according to U.S. Census Bureau data recently analyzed by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). AGC chief economist, Ken Simonson, notes in his report that “several segments of construction appear to be climbing out of a hole.” He bases his assumption on the small but constant increases in spending, especially in the residential and private nonresidential sectors. While figures for combined construction spending grew by only 0.5 percent since November 2010, the increase totaled 1.2 percent when looking at the month-over-month numbers for November 2011. Residential spending has been progressively growing since July 2011 with steady gains in single-family, multifamily, and residential improvement markets. Total spending for private residential construction sectors rose 2 percent from October to November 2011, and that same figure demonstrated overall gains of 3.4 percent within the 12 months leading up to the November 2011 report. 
