New data shows decline largely due to decrease in residential construction investment
Investment in building construction continued its downward trend in September, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.
Data from StatCan revealed that total investment declined 0.7% to $17.5 billion in September, continuing a downward trend that started in May.
Read more: How residential construction has fared through the pandemic
Broken down, residential construction investment decreased 1.6% in September, with Quebec accounting for most of the decline. However, StatCan said that investment in this component was 21.6% higher than the pre-pandemic value in February 2020.
Investment in single family homes edged down 0.6% to $7 billion, with declines reported in eight provinces. Conversely, Nova Scotia continued to show strength in this sector (+13.3%), with its fourth increase in five months.
Meanwhile, multi-unit construction investment decreased in seven provinces, down 2.9% nationally to $5.8 billion. The difference in value between multi-unit and single-unit investment had been narrowing for the past few years, but a noticeable gap has opened up since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conversely, StatCan figures showed that commercial investment grew by 1.8% to $2.6 billion in September, with Ontario and Quebec leading the way. Office building construction projects in Toronto and Ottawa led to gains in Ontario, following three consecutive monthly declines.
Overall, non-residential construction investment rose 1.8% to $4.8 billion. Despite eight increases since the beginning of the year, non-residential investment was 6.3% lower than pre-pandemic values.
