Canadian investment in residential construction totalled $28.9 billion in 2Q, up 4 per cent from the same quarter in 2014, said Statistics Canada Thursday.
Renovation spending (up 4.3 per cent to $13.9 billion), investment in apartment and apartment-condominium buildings (up 9.9 percent to $3.9 billion) and acquisition costs for new dwelling units built (up 9.9 per cent to $2.7 billion) were responsible for most of the advance at the national level.
In the US, NAHB analysis of Census Construction Spending data Monday shows that total private residential construction spending for July continued to increase, rising to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$387 billion. On a month-over- month basis, private single-family spending was US$218 billion, up by 2.1 per cent over the revised June estimate. Private multifamily spending declined to US$52 billion, down by 2.2 per cent, after three months of consecutive gains.
Construction Spending, Canada and US
Total investment in residential construction in Canada increased in four provinces in 2Q, with Ontario posting the largest advance, followed by British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, said StatsCan Thursday.
The largest declines were registered in Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan. In Ontario, investment rose 8.1 per cent to $10.4 billion in 2Q compared with the same quarter of 2014.
In British Columbia, residential construction investment increased 14.6 per cent in 2Q to $4.3 billion. The advance came from higher investment in all dwelling types.
In the US, annually, multifamily spending rose 21.2 per cent from the revised July 2014 estimate, and spend-ing on single-family construction was 15.8 per cent higher, according to the Commerce Dept Monday.
The pace of total nonresidential construction spending increased by 0.5 per cent monthly in July, and the annual increase from the revised July 2014 estimate was 12.7 per cent. The largest contribution to this year-over- year nonresidential spending gain was made by the class of manufacturing-related construction (73 per cent increase), followed by lodging (40 per cent increase) and amusement/recreation (34 per cent increase).