Washington, Apr 2 (IANS): US construction spending rose in February as private and public building activities both increased, evidence of the recovering property sector, the Commerce Department reported.

Construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $885.1 billion in February, 1.2 percent above the revised $874.8 billion in January, the department said in a report Monday.

Compared with the level of a year earlier, the February figure was 7.9 percent higher, reported Xinhua.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $613 billion in February, 1.3 percent above the revised estimate of the previous month, while the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending was $272.1 billion in February, 0.9 percent above the revised January figure.

The US housing market is struggling for a turnaround about six years after the bubble burst. Although recent sales and prices indicators were mainly upbeat, many economists believe that the housing sector still has a long way to go before a full recovery.