Building construction price indexes, second quarter 2019
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Released: 2019-08-20
Prices for construction of residential buildings increased 0.6% in the second quarter of 2019, while the cost of construction of non-residential buildings was up 0.4%.
On a quarterly basis, the rise in construction costs of residential and non-residential buildings in Montréal and Toronto was the main contributor to the overall increases in both types of building.
Prices for structural steel framing and concrete products were the main drivers of the price increases in Montréal and Toronto. Although prices are still high for those two types of products, the increases have been slowing over the last few quarters. These quarterly increases can be observed in most of the buildings surveyed in those two census metropolitan areas (CMAs).
Among all of the CMAs surveyed, Saskatoon posted the sole decrease in construction costs for residential and non-residential buildings (-0.1% for both types of building).
Prices charged by contractors for residential (+2.7%) and non-residential (+3.9%) building construction were up over the 12-month period ending in the second quarter. On an annual basis, construction costs for both types of building rose the most in Ottawa (+5.2% for residential buildings and +5.7% for non-residential buildings) and in Vancouver (+4.8% for residential buildings and +5.1% for non-residential buildings).
Chart 1
Building construction price indexes, quarterly change
Note to readers
The building construction price indexes (BCPI) are quarterly series that measure change over time in the prices that contractors charge to construct a range of new commercial, institutional, industrial and residential buildings in 11 census metropolitan areas: St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Montréal, Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario part), Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
These buildings include six non-residential structures: an office building; a warehouse; a shopping centre; a factory; a school; and a bus depot with maintenance and repair facilities. In addition, indexes are produced for five residential structures: a bungalow, a two-storey house, a townhouse, a high rise apartment building (five storeys or more) and a low rise apartment building (less than five storeys).
The contractor's price reflects the value of all materials, labour, equipment, overhead and profit to construct a new building. It excludes value added taxes and any costs for land, land assembly, building design, land development and real estate fees.
With each release, data for the previous quarter may have been revised. The index is not seasonally adjusted.
Products
The video "Producer Price Indexes" is available on the Statistics Canada Training Institute webpage. It provides an introduction to Statistics Canada's Producer Price Indexes — what they are, how they are made and what they are used for.
A Historical Timeline of Canadian Producer Price Statistics
The publication "A Historical Timeline of Canadian Producer Price Statistics," part of the Prices Analytical Series (62F0014M), was created to showcase the key milestones in the history of Canadian producer price statistics. This historical timeline contains answers to questions such as: Who collected Canada's first statistics? What do Canadian producer price indexes measure?
Infographic: Producer Price Indexes at a Glance
The infographic "Producer Price Indexes at a Glance," part of the series Statistics Canada — Infographics (11-627-M) demonstrates how producer price indexes for goods and services are calculated and why they are important for the Canadian economy.
Contact information
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