U.S. construction spending was unchanged in September, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,329.5 billion U.S. dollars, nearly the same as the revised August estimate, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department Thursday.

The department said that the flat reading in construction spending followed an upwardly revised 0.8 percent rise in August. The spending was expected to have risen 0.1 percent in September.

In September, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of spending on private construction expanded by 0.3 percent from the revised August estimate, but the increase was offset by a slide in spending on public construction, which fell by 0.9 percent in September, the largest drop since August 2017.

During the first nine months of 2018, construction spending reached 982.9 billion dollars, 5.5 percent above that for the same period in 2017.