Dive summary:

• Private spending on construction rose enough in July to pull all construction spending up to $90.1 billion and to mark the best month since June 2009.
• The pattern seen in recent months held true, with public construction dropping 0.3% from June and 3.7% from July 2012 as both road and education spending shrank.
• When Associated General Contractors of America went through the latest Census Bureau data, private spending on single-family homes was up 0.5% from June and 29% year over year, private multifamily construction was up 0.1% from June and 39% from the previous  July, and private nonresidential spending was up 1.3% month-to-month and 2.0% for 12 months.

From the article:

“The patterns seen earlier this year reappeared in July, with strong year-over-year gains in single- and multifamily building, a range of results for private nonresidential categories, and deepening downturns in most public segments,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. ...