A large decline in the non-residential sector brought down the total value of construction investment in the country to just over $15 billion in September.

Statistics Canada reports that after reaching a record high in August, the total investment in building construction dropped 1.7 percent in September to $15.2 billion. Investment in the non-residential sector dropped by 8.5 percent to $4.5 billion. It was the sector’s third consecutive monthly decline after hitting a peak in June.

The commercial, industrial and institutional components of non-residential building construction all fell to the lowest levels seen since April 2020. Ontario (-9.5 percent to $1.8 billion) and Quebec (-15.2 percent to $1.0 billion) accounted for the majority of the provincial declines in all three non-residential components.

Investment in commercial building construction was down 11.3 percent to $2.6 billion, while investment in industrial building construction dropped 5.6 percent, and investment in the institutional component declined 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, overall investment in residential construction was up 1.6 percent, led by multi-unit investments. Multi-unit construction rose for the fifth consecutive month with gains in seven provinces. Manitoba and Quebec led the advance with both new construction and renovation projects on apartment buildings. The largest declines were reported in British Columbia (-4.1 percent), continuing a downward trend following the peak reached in May 2019.

Single unit investment in building construction was largely unchanged in September (-0.6 percent) after four consecutive monthly increases from May through August. Declines reported in five provinces were mostly offset by gains in Newfoundland and Labrador (+8.5 percent), New Brunswick (+5.8 percent), British Columbia (+1.8 percent) and Ontario (+0.2 percent).

Quarterly investment bounces back

Investment in building construction saw strong growth of 25.7 percent in the third quarter, bouncing back from a substantial decline (-19.5 percent) in the second quarter of 2020—drops that were driven by COVID-19-related shutdowns.

All components in the residential and non-residential sectors showed growth compared with the previous quarter. While investment in both single and multi-unit construction has rebounded from the second quarter to $15.6 billion, multi-unit investment, which reached a record high on a quarterly basis, has been surpassing single-unit investments since the first quarter of 2020.

The commercial (+13.8 percent to $8.7 billion) and industrial (+5.1 percent to $2.6 billion) components of non-residential investment have not yet returned to pre-COVID-19 levels on a quarterly basis. However, the institutional component (+7.5 percent to $3.5 billion) has surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels.

Provincially, Ontario and Quebec, which accounted for more than three-quarters of the gain, led the quarterly growth.