Construction investment rises 60 percent in May
Construction investment is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics Canada announced that total investment in building construction in May reached $13.4 billion. That figure was an increase of more than 60 percent over the level recorded in April, and was 16.5 percent below the level recorded in February.
The easing of COVID-19 construction restrictions in May—particularly in Ontario and Quebec—led to growth in all components of residential and non-residential investment. Notable is the fact that Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island were the three provinces that made the most sweeping changes to construction activity during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Ontario, some non-residential construction projects were reopened on May 4, and the province resumed all construction projects on May 19. In Quebec, all sectors of the construction industry were authorized to resume activity on May 11 under strict government guidelines, while new construction projects were permitted to start in PEI on May 1, after a five-week work stoppage.
Investment in residential construction rose 57 percent to $8.4 billion in May. Investment in single-unit construction bounced back 71.7 percent to $4.1 billion, exceeding multi-unit growth which increased 45.2 percent to $4.3 billion. Although Ontario and Quebec reported the largest provincial gains for the month, all provinces bounced back somewhat from sharp declines in April. Despite these strong gains, residential investment remained 22.7 percent lower than February, before COVID-19-related restrictions were put in place.
Non-residential construction investment increased 65.6 percent to $4.9 billion in May. All three components increased, with gains in Ontario and Quebec more than offsetting declines in five other provinces.
The commercial component represented the majority of non-residential construction gains, up 99.0 percent to $2.9 billion. Nearly all of the increase was in Ontario and Quebec, with both provinces returning to more regular construction activity, but still remained slightly lower than February.
Gains in both the industrial (+35.1 percent) and institutional (+32.9 percent) sectors were also led by increases in Ontario and Quebec. Nationally, while reporting notable improvements, these components were still down 4.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, from February levels.