Construction spending fell 1.1 percent in February Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Published 07:28 a.m., Monday, April 2, 2012 With the back-to-back declines, construction spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $808.9 billion in February, just 6.1 percent above a low hit in March 2011 and about one-third lower than the high hit during the housing boom. The construction weakness over the past two months underscored that the nation's construction industry is still struggling to emerge from the 2007-2009 recession, a decline that was triggered by a collapse in housing following an unsustainable boom in that sector. Housing construction was unchanged in February at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $246.5 billion after a small 0.1 percent dip in January.