Published: October 22, 2019

Statistics Canada reported yesterday that the value of investments in building construction across the country rose by 1.4 percent in August. Gains in both the residential and non-residential sectors helped bring the total value of investments to $15.5 billion.

Investment in residential building construction rose 1.8 percent to $10.6 billion. The multi-unit component edged up 0.4 percent to $5.3 billion. Investment in single-unit construction increased 3.2 percent to $5.4 billion, slightly exceeding multi-unit residential investment.

Non-residential investment was up 0.5 percent to $4.9 billion. Both the commercial (+0.8 percent to $2.8 billion) and institutional (+0.2 percent to $1.1 billion) components edged up. The industrial component (-0.4 percent to $905.4 million) edged down in August.

Here in Ontario, building construction investment totaled $7.2 billion in August, an increase of slightly less than 8 percent. Investment in residential construction increased by 9.2 percent to $5.4 billion, while investment in the non-residential sector rose by 4.5 percent to $1.8 billion.