Investment in building construction, May 2020
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Released: 2020-07-21
$13.4 billion
May 2020
60.1% 
(monthly change)
Total investment in building construction increased 60.1% to $13.4 billion in May, partially rebounding from large declines in April. The easing of COVID-19 construction restrictions in May, most notably in Ontario and Quebec, led to growth in all components of residential and non-residential investment. Despite rebounding strongly in May, investment levels remained 16.5% below the level observed in February 2020. On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), investment in building construction increased 60.3% to $11.0 billion.
Although all provinces started to reopen their economies—including the construction sectors—in May, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island made the most impactful policy changes during the month. In Ontario, some non-residential construction projects were reopened starting May 4. Additionally, the province moved into Stage 1 of reopening on May 19, which included a full resumption of all construction projects. In Quebec, all sectors of the construction industry were authorized to resume activity on May 11 under strict guidelines of the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail. Lastly, in Prince Edward Island, new construction projects were permitted to start on May 1, following a five-week work stoppage.
For more information on housing, please visit the Housing statistics portal.
Chart 1
Investment in building construction, seasonally adjusted
Residential construction rebounds in May
Investment in residential construction rose 57.0% to $8.4 billion in May. Investment in single-unit construction bounced back 71.7% to $4.1 billion, exceeding multi-unit growth which increased 45.2% 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% lower than February, before COVID-19-related restrictions were put in place.
Chart 2
Investment in residential building construction, seasonally adjusted
Infographic 1
Residential construction investment, May 2020
Non-residential construction on track to return to pre-COVID levels
Non-residential construction investment increased 65.6% to $4.9 billion in May. All three components of non-residential investment 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% 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. Manitoba (+0.4%) was the only other province to report growth for the month in this component.
Gains in both the industrial (+35.1%) and institutional (+32.9%) sectors were also led by increases in Ontario and Quebec. Nationally, while reporting notable improvements, these components were still down 4.7% and 0.8%, respectively, from February levels.
Infographic 2
Non-residential construction investment, May 2020
Note to readers
Based on the extraordinary events and business disruptions around COVID-19, Statistics Canada has made adjustments to the models used to estimate investment in building construction. As a result of these adjustments, there may be larger-than-normal revisions to the data in subsequent months.
Unadjusted data for the current reference month are subject to revision based on late responses. Data for the previous month have been revised. Deflated data and seasonally adjusted data are revised for the previous two months.
Data presented in this release are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise stated. Using seasonally adjusted data allows month-to-month comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Monthly estimates for constant dollars are calculated using quarterly deflators from the Building Construction Price Index (18-10-0135-01). Typically, the first two months of a quarter use the previous quarters' price level and are revised when the new quarterly price index becomes available.
Detailed data on investment activity by type of building and type of work are now available in the unadjusted current dollar series.
Prior to January 2018, building permits for cottages with a value greater than $60,000 were automatically reclassified to structure type Single. Beginning with January 2018, regardless of value, building permits received from municipalities coded as cottages remain classified as a cottage.
Effective November 23, 2018, table 34-10-0175-01 contains data on both the residential and non-residential sector. It replaced tables 34-10-0010-01, 34-10-0011-01 and 34-10-0012-01.
Products
A new study titled "Price trends and outlook in key Canadian housing markets" looks at where the housing market was at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, sheds light on what has happened since then, and explores the challenges of the Canadian market going forward.
Statistics Canada has a new Housing Market Indicators dashboard. This web application provides access to key housing market indicators for Canada, by province and by census metropolitan area. These indicators are automatically updated with new information from monthly releases, giving users access to the latest data.
Next release
Data on investment in building construction for June will be released on August 21.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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