New Housing Investment Up in February Year over Year

Investment in new housing construction increased 2.4% to $3.5 billion in February compared with the same month in 2014. The increase came mainly from higher spending on row house and apartment building construction.

Investment in row house construction rose 9.1% to $348 million, while spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings advanced 2.2% to $1.1 billion. Spending on semi-detached dwellings (+11.2% to $194 million) also contributed to the national advance. Investment in single-family dwellings edged up 0.5% to $1.8 billion.

Three provinces posted the largest year-over-year advances: Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. In Alberta, total investment in new dwellings increased 13.4% to $902 million. In British Columbia, spending was up 10.4% to $622 million, while in Ontario investment rose 1.7% to $1.2 billion.

In contrast, the largest decrease occurred in Quebec, followed by Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. In Quebec, spending on new residential building construction was down 10.7% to $468 million. In Saskatchewan, investment declined 10.7% to $123 million, and in Newfoundland and Labrador investment was down 25.8% to $40 million.

Source: Statistics Canada, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150421/dq150421d-eng.htm?cmp=mstatc.