Investment in Canadian Building Construction Declines in January

On Monday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that investment in building construction declined 0.9% to $19.7 billion (CAD) in January. On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), investment in building construction declined 0.9% to $12.1 billion in January.

Residential

In January, investment in residential building construction declined 1.4%, or $194 billion, to $13.6 billion. The decline was led by a $228 million drop in Ontario, which was partially offset by increases in five other provinces.

Nationally, investment in detached single-family homes increased 2.1% to $6.7 billion in January, with eight provinces reporting gains for this sector. Multi-unit investment declined 4.5% to $6.9 billion.

Nonresidential

For the third consecutive month, investment in the nonresidential sector trended higher, posting a 0.2% increase in January to a record high of $6.1 billion.

The increases in nonresidential building investment were led by a $32.3 million dollar increase in the institutional sector, increasing to $1.7 billion, and the industrial sector which increased $7.3 million to $1.3 billion. Those increases were largely offset by declines in the commercial sector which posted a $26.2 million decline to $3.1 billion.

StatCan notes that the decline in commercial investment in January marks the seventh consecutive monthly decrease, with seven provinces showing negative movement.