March Investment in New Housing Up 4.2% Year over Year
Investment in new housing construction increased 4.2% to $3.5 billion in March compared with the same month a year earlier, reports Statistics Canada.Investment rose in all dwelling types with apartment and apartment-condominium buildings accounting for much of the national advance. Investment in apartment and apartment-condominium buildings rose 7.5% to $1.2 billion, while spending on single-family homes increased 1.5% to $1.8 billion. Investment in row house construction advanced 7.7% to $351 million and spending on semi-detached dwellings rose 5.1% to $193 million.
Provincially, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario recorded the largest year-over-year increases.
In Alberta, total investment in new residential construction increased 15.0% to $937 million. In British Columbia, spending was up 13.3% to $643 million, while in Ontario, investment rose 2.4% to $1.1 billion.
Conversely, Quebec posted the largest decline, with total investment falling 9.3% to $481 million. Lower spending in single-family dwellings was mostly responsible for the decrease, down 19.0% to $154 million.
Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador posted the second and third largest declines. In Saskatchewan, total investment declined 11.5% to $112 million and in Newfoundland and Labrador, total spending fell 25.1% to $36 million.
