March New Housing Construction Investment Up 9.7% YOY

May 25, 2018

New housing construction investment totalled $4.6 billion in March, up 9.7% from March 2017. This increase was mainly attributable to higher construction investment in apartment buildings (+$333.2 million).

New housing construction investment totalled $4.6 billion in March, up 9.7% from March 2017. This increase was mainly attributable to higher construction investment in apartment buildings (+$333.2 million).The increase in apartment building construction investment accounted for 81.7% of the total growth in new housing construction investment in Canada. In comparison, single-home construction accounted for 77.0% of the total increase in investment in March 2017. 

Investment in new housing construction grew year over year in March for every building type except single-family houses, which fell by $23.5 million (-1.1%). This drop was mostly explained by lower spending on single-family house construction in Ontario (-$92.7 million). 

Quebec continued to post the largest increase for apartment building construction (+$155.9 million) for a total investment of $475.7 million, which represented two-thirds of the total investment in new housing construction in the province.In contrast, investment in Alberta was led by an increase in single house construction of $40.0 million, which accounted for over three-quarters (77.9%) of the total increase in new housing construction investment in the province.

At the same time, investment in apartment building construction in Alberta was down by $10.6 million compared with March 2017. 

In Saskatchewan, a $12.6 million decrease was primarily due to lower investment in single-family house construction (-$13.4 million).

British Columbia and Prince Edward Island were the only two provinces to post increases for all building types.

Source: Statistics Canada, www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180522/dq180522b-eng.htm