Dive Brief:

• A dip in single-family homebuilding dragged down spending in the construction industry for the second consecutive month in February, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

• Construction spending industry-wide fell 0.1% last month as housing starts tumbled by 17%. Much of the setback occurred in the Northeast and the Midwest, where especially harsh winter weather delayed homebuilding for several months.

• Economists have predicted that stifled construction spending could “pull down overall economic growth” for the year’s first quarter, The Washington Post reported.

Dive Insight:

Still, overall construction spending has grown 2.1% from February 2014, the Commerce Department said.

But construction spending in January was lower than previously reported, which could further weaken first-quarter economic growth. The department revised the January numbers downward from a 1.1% drop to a 1.7% decline.