WASHINGTON (AFP) - US construction spending rose 1.0 per cent in November from the previous month to reach the highest level in four years, official data showed Thursday.

Spending in November was running at an annual rate of US$934.4 billion (S$1.18 billion) , the Commerce Department reported, with the gains mainly in private projects as public spending on construction declined.

The November pace was up 5.9 pe rcent from a year earlier.

Private sector construction spending, about 70 per cent of all construction outlays, was up 2.2 per cent from October, with the strongest gains in non-residential building.

Public construction spending fell 1.8 per cent from October.

While strong, the data suggested slower growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 than in the third quarter, said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.