Investment in All Sectors of Building Construction Up 0.5% in January

Mar 24, 2020

Total investment in building construction increased by 0.5% in January to $15.6 billion, with gains in both the residential and non-residential sectors. On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), investment in building construction was up 0.9% to $12.9 billion compared with December 2019.

Quebec leads residential growth

Investment in the residential sector remained unchanged in January. Increases in Quebec (+5.5% to $2.3 billion), British Columbia (+0.1% to $1.9 billion), and Nova Scotia (+0.6% to $224.0 million) offset declines in the seven other provinces. Quebec led residential investment in both single-unit dwellings (+6.6% to $1.0 billion) and multi-unit dwellings (+4.7% to $1.3 billion), with investment growth in single-unit dwellings outweighing the lower investment in single-unit dwellings reported in all other provinces.

Non-residential investment

All three components of non-residential investment (commercial, institutional, and industrial) were up in January, rising 1.4% to $5.1 billion. Both Quebec (+5.1% to $1.1 billion) and Ontario (+1.8% to $1.9 billion) reported notable growth, while Alberta declined 1.5% to $682.1 million.

The commercial component was the largest contributor to non-residential growth, up 1.8% to $3.0 billion. Quebec reported the largest gains (+8.4% to $629.6 million), primarily due to multiple major projects, such as the National Bank head office in Montréal. 

The institutional sector rose 0.9% to $1.2 billion. Growth in Toronto propelled Ontario up 3.8% to $423.8 million. Declines in British Columbia and Alberta slightly offset gains in Ontario.

The industrial component increased 0.8% to $928.3 million. Gains in seven provinces outweighed declines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Source: Statistics Canada, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200323/dq200323b-eng.htm