Investment in residential construction saw a 0.5% increase in August to $15.7B, with BC to credit for the bulk of those gains. Conversely, the non-residential sector saw a 0.2% decline, now sitting at $5.3B. On the whole, investment in building construction saw a 0.4% increase to $21.1B.
This is according to Statistics Canada’s latest construction figures, released this morning, which also stated that, on a constant dollar basis (2012=100), investment in building construction decreased 0.2% to $12.7B.
Statistics Canada
On a provincial basis, BC, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, and Quebec all saw gains in the residential sector -- but most notably was BC, up 5.0% to $2,880.2M. Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut all saw declines. Meanwhile, investments held steady in Saskatchewan.
Single-family homes made up the most of the market share, at 45.1%, with a total investment of $3,524.8M, up 2.7% year over year. Condos and rental apartments followed closely behind, accounting for a 41.5% market share and with a total investment of $3,245.2M, up 7.3% YoY. Semi-detached homes and row homes made up 3.0% and 14.1% market share, respectively, with the semi-detached market being the only housing type to see a YoY decline.
Multi-unit construction investment for the month also increased, up 0.5% to $7.2B, and again this was largely due to a 10.6% gain in BC. According to the report, “multiple new apartment projects spanning across Vancouver helped contribute to the growth.”
Meanwhile, the minor decline in the non-residential sector was driven by institutional construction investment, which fell 1.4% to $1.3B in August. The report notes that “most of the weakness came from Ontario as investment decreased for the second consecutive month in this component.” At the same time, Prince Edward Island saw an 88.8% increase for institutional buildings, attributed to the construction of a new elementary school in Charlottetown.
Investments into industrial increased by 0.9% to $1.0B, with seven provinces reporting gains, led by Quebec. August was the ninth-straight month where investment in the industrial sector grew. Additionally, commercial investments increased nominally by 0.1% to $3.0B, led by Alberta, up 20.2% from this time last year.
