Investment in Canadian Building Construction Declined in May

Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Wednesday (7-19-23) that investment in Canadian building construction declined 1.2% in May to $19.9 billion (CAD). On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), investment in building construction fell 1.5% to $11.5 billion.

Investment in residential building construction declined 1.7% month-over-month to $14.0 billion in May. StatCan says the decline brought Alberta down to its lowest level since December 2020. This also marked the province’s nineth consecutive monthly decrease. Nationally, single-family home investment dropped 2.9% to $7.4 billion. Overall, seven provinces posted declines. Multi-unit construction was down 0.3% to $6.7 billion.

Investment in non-residential construction was virtually unchanged in May at $5.0 billion, following consistent and robust growth since June 2022. Investment in industrial construction was down 0.4% to 1.2 billion, with Quebec posting its first loss and ending 20 consecutive months of uninterrupted growth in the province. Nationally, commercial construction investment edged down 0.2% to $3.2 billion. The institutional component posted a 0.6% increase to $1.4 billion.