Canadian investment in new housing construction increasedย +6.3% from Mayย 2017ย to $4.8ย billion in May, according to Statistics Canada Thursday. The year-over-year increase was led by spending on multiple-unit construction (apartment buildings, row houses and semi-detached houses), while spending on single-family homes was down.
Investment in non-residential building construction, meanwhile, totalled $14.3ย billion in 2Q 2018, upย +1.4% compared with 1Q. The commercial (+$123.7ย million) and industrial (+$103.4ย million) components were up, while the institutional component declined, said StatsCan.
Canada Construction Spending
Investment in Canadian new housing construction increasedย +6.3% from Mayย 2017ย to $4.8ย billion in May, said Statistics Canada Thursday.
Apartment building construction rose in eight provinces, led by Quebec (+$225.2ย million), Ontario (+$114.5ย million) and British Columbia (+$93.2ย million), accounting forย 39.7% of total investment in new housing construction and the largest share on record since the start of this data series inย 1992.
Spending on row house construction was upย +11.7% (+$56.4ย million) compared with Mayย 2017, mainly driven by investment in Ontario (+$16.0ย million), Alberta (+$15.3ย million) and British Columbia (+$14.4ย million).
Investment in semi-detached houses increased byย +8.8% (+$19.7ย million) in May compared with the same month inย 2017. Quebec (+$8.7ย million) and British Columbia (+$6.5ย million) saw the largest provincial gains for this component.
Meanwhile, spending on Canadian single-family homes was downย -9.9% (-$232.3ย million) year over year. Overall, nine provinces reported lower spending, with Ontario (-$96.9ย million) and Quebec (-$59.7ย million) posting the largest declines.
Elsewhere, spending on institutional building construction was downย -0.9% (-$35.3ย million) compared with 1Q, according to Statistics Canada also Thursday.
This decrease follows four consecutive quarterly gains. Nationally, the decline stemmed from lower spending on schools (-$44.3ย million), nursing homes (-$25.1ย million), as well as penitentiaries, detention centres and courthouses (-$13.6ย million). Hospitals, health care centres and clinics were the only building types with a quarterly increase, up $56.3ย million.