Building construction investment drops 46 percent in April
Total investment in building construction across the country took a massive hit in April, Statistics Canada reports.
Public health measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 caused a slowdown across the construction industry, and even widespread site shutdowns in Ontario and Quebec. As a result, total construction investment dropped by nearly 46 percent to $8.4 billion.
The drop of more than $7 billion was the largest-ever month-over-month change since Statistics Canada began tracking this metric in 2010. Investment dropped in all provinces and territories, with Ontario (-$3.2 billion) and Quebec (-$2.5 billion) reporting the largest declines.
Investment in the residential sector fell by 49.2 percent to $5.36 billion. All provinces and territories reported double-digit declines, with Quebec (-77.6 percent to $457 million) and Ontario (-46.8 percent to $2.4 billion) reporting the largest losses.
Investment in the non-residential sector dropped by 38.8 percent in April to just under $3 billion. Because work in Ontario was shut down on all but essential construction projects, the value of non-residential investment dropped by more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, the value of non-residential investment in such provinces as Manitoba (1.6 percent), Saskatchewan (1.3 percent) and British Columbia (0.9 percent) increased slightly due to ongoing work.
Across the country, investment values in the commercial component dropped by more than 49 percent. Ontario’s sector in particular lost more than $900 million in value, while Quebec’s lost more than $520 million.
The value of institutional investments dropped by more than 22 percent (or $247.5 million) nationally—on the back of a loss of more than $190 million in Quebec. Ontario’s institutional investment dropped by more than $53 million. Finally, industrial investments dropped by more than 25 percent nationally to $664 million. Quebec (-92.8 percent) and Ontario (-18.7 percent) recorded the greatest losses in that sector, while four provinces reported small gains.