Investment in Canadian Building Construction Slips in June

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that total investment in building construction was CA$23.2 billion in June, a decline of 0.5%, or $109.7 million. Year-over-year, investment was up 5.7%.

StatCan noted that the slight decrease occurred while the total value of building permits grew 18.5% during the month, reflecting the lag between permit issuance and on-site construction investment.

On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), total investment was $21.0 billion in June, down 0.8% but up 2.4% from a year earlier.

Residential Construction

Residential investment totaled $16.1 billion in June, down $104.9 million. Multi-unit investment was $8.6 billion, down $171.2 million. Single-family investment was $7.5 billion, up $66.2 million.

Nonresidential Construction

Nonresidential investment amounted to $7.1 billion in June, down 0.1%, or $4.7 million. Commercial investment was $3.5 billion, down $23.7 million. Institutional investment was $2.2 billion, up $13.2 million. Industrial investment was $1.5 billion, up $5.7 million.

Q2 Review

In Q2, total investment in building construction was $70.0 billion, up $1.5 billion, or 2.1%. On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), total investment rose 1.1% to $63.3 billion.