Canadian Investment in Building Construction Declines in February

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that investment in Canadian building construction declined 1.1% month-over-month to $19.3 billion in February. On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), investment in building construction declined 1.2% to $11.9 billion in February, following no change in January.

Residential

In February, investment in residential building construction declined $157 million, or 1.2%, to $13.4 billion. The drop marks the second consecutive monthly decline.

The monthly decline was led by Ontario which experienced a $153 million decline to $5.2 billion. On the other hand, investment in residential building construction trended higher in six provinces led by Newfoundland and Labrador—up $16 million to $78 million.

Nationally, investment in detached single-family homes increased 1.3% to $6.7 billion in February, with all provinces and territories apart from Yukon reporting gains for this component. At the same time, multi-unit investment decreased 3.5% to $6.7 billion driven by declines in Ontario—down-6.0% to $2.6 billion—and Quebec—down 4.9% to $1.2 billion—as the pace of new starts slowed from earlier in 2023.

Nonresidential

Investment in the nonresidential sector fell by $52 million, or 0.9%, to $6.0 billion in February. A gain in the institutional component from $29 million to $1.7 billion was offset by a decline in the industrial component—down $4 million to $1.3 billion—and the commercial component—down $77 million to $3.0 billion.

StatCan notes that the decline in commercial investment for February marks the eighth consecutive monthly decline, with seven out of ten provinces contributing to the negative movement.