Construction spending falls 1.4 percent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. construction spending fell for a third straight month in December, data on Monday showed, as a year-long economic recession deepened.

The Commerce Department said spending on construction projects dropped 1.4 percent, the biggest decline since July 2008, to a $1.05 trillion annual rate. For 2008, construction spending plunged by a record 5.1 percent after dropping 2.6 percent in 2007.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting a 1.2 percent decline in overall construction spending in December.

The private residential market, at the core of the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, saw construction spending falling 3.2 percent. For 2008, private residential construction spending tumbled a record 27.2 percent.

Spending in the non-residential private sector on a range of structures from factories, lodging, offices, and power plants fell 0.4 percent in December

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Editing by Andrea Ricci)