New housing construction investment totalled $4.6 billion in April, up 8.4 per cent compared with April 2016, said Statistics Canada also Thursday. Eight provinces posted gains, led by Ontario.
Nationally, investment increased for every dwelling type. The gain was mostly due to spending on single-family dwellings, up $251.8 million to $2.4 billion. Six provinces posted higher investments in single-family dwelling construction. Ontario was well ahead of the other provinces, with $203.7 million in increased spending, a 22.9 per cent increase over April 2016.
Canada Residential Construction
Investment in apartment building construction rose 1.9 per cent in April, mainly attributable to higher spending in British Columbia (+$61.4 million), fol- lowed by Quebec (+$29.5 million). The biggest declines for this type of dwelling were in Alberta (-$58.2 million) and Ontario (-$14.1 million).
Year over year, investment in new row housing construction continued to increase in most provinces in April. Only Alberta (-$18.4 million) and Nova Scotia (-$0.5 million) posted declines.
Spending on semi-detached dwelling construction increased in seven provinces in April, up 13.2 per cent from April 2016 to $218.1 million. Alberta posted the largest year-over-year increase (+$12.9 million). Spending on semi-detached dwelling construction edged down in British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba.
In Ontario, new residential construction investment rose 15.1 per cent to $1.9 billion. Spending was up for all dwelling types except apartment buildings, which fell 2.8 per cent.
New housing construction investment in British Columbia rose 6.1 per cent year over year to $997.2 million.