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After falling for two months at the beginning of the year, and then climbing back up for four, construction spending once again dropped in July, decreasing 0.9 percent from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $834.4 billion, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. But while the economy’s monthly climb has been rocky, year over year gains have made ground every month this year.

In July, not only was construction spending 9.3 percent above the same month a year ago, but the first seven months together were also 9.3 percent higher than the same seven-month period in 2011.

Fueling the slow growth are gains in new single-family and multifamily private construction, which have both increased for the past four months. In July, new single-family construction increased 1.5 percent to approximately $127.5 million, while new multifamily construction increased 2.8 percent to approximately $22 million – a whopping 44.5 percent above July 2011.

Private residential construction fell 1.6 percent to approximately $265 billion in July but was 19 percent higher than the same time a year ago. Overall, private construction fell 1.2 percent to $556 billion in July but was up 15 percent from 2011.

Public construction, however, has seen a steady decline, dropping 0.4 percent to approximately $276 billion in July – 0.7 percent below July 2011. Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said this was due in part to the impact local budget constraints were having on highway and education projects.