Construction spending in the U.S. unexpectedly showed a significant decrease in the month of January, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday.

The report said construction spending fell 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $883.3 billion in January from the revised December estimate of $902.6 billion.

The sharp drop in construction spending came as a surprise to economists, who had expected spending to increase by 0.6 percent.