Building construction investment drops again in August
Investment in building construction dropped for the fourth month in a row in August, Statistics Canada reports.
Investment fell by 2 percent to $17.7 billion.
The decline was entirely due to lower activity in the residential sector. Nation-wide investment in housing construction dropped by 2.9 percent, with declines posted in every province except Nova Scotia.
Investment in single family homes was down 2.6% to $7 billion, with Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia posting the largest declines. Despite a fourth consecutive monthly decrease, single unit construction was 25.6% higher than a year earlier.
Multi-unit construction investment dropped in all provinces, and was down 3.3% nationally to $6.0 billion in August.
Investment in non-residential construction, meanwhile, rose 0.6% to $4.7 billion.
The institutional sector posted its tenth consecutive monthly increase (+1.8% to $1.3 billion), driven by gains in Ontario (+4.3%) and Quebec (+2.2%). This was the highest level of investment in institutional construction since March 2012.
Commercial investment was mostly unchanged in August (+0.1%), with gains in seven provinces offsetting declines in Ontario (-0.5%), British Columbia (-1.3%) and Nova Scotia (-2.4%).
Industrial construction edged up 0.2% for the month, led by investment in Ontario.