Q3 Residential Construction Up 9.1% YOY

December 18, 2017

Investment in residential construction totalled $35.8 billion in the third quarter, up 9.1% compared with the same period in 2016 and the largest increase since the fourth quarter of 2012.

For the first time in five years, residential construction investment rose on a year-over-year basis in every province. Ontario, Quebec and Alberta posted the highest increases in the third quarter.

Renovations up in all provinces

All components contributed to the year-over-year increase, led by spending on renovation, up 8.1% to $15.5 billion, followed by construction of single-family homes, up 11.0% to $8.4 billion.

Spending on renovation was up in every province for the first time since second quarter of 2006 and was the main driver for the increases in both Ontario (+$614.6 million) and Quebec (+$224.8 million).

Renovations drove the increases in every province except Alberta and Prince Edward Island, where spending was led by investment in new single houses. The $495.2 million increase in Alberta was mainly due to single-home construction (+$396.8 million), which accounted for 80.1% of the total year-over-year increase in the province.

Row house construction reaches a record high

At the national level, investment in row house construction reached a record high of $1.6 billion. In the third quarter, row houses represented over half of the total year-over-year increase for multi-unit building construction, despite accounting for just over one-fifth of total spending for multi-unit buildings.
Source: Statistics Canada, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171204/dq171204a-eng.htm