Total spending, including inflation, declined 4.5 percent in the last 18 months, but it will turn around into a slow increase late in 2007 when housing starts stop declining rapidly. A 7-percent rise is forecast for 2008 after the 2-percent drop in 2007, the first decline since the early 1990s. Measured after inflation, construction spending will begin expanding early in 2008. The expansion will be slower than overall economic growth until the end of 2008.
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