Investment in new housing construction, August 2015
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Released: 2015-10-21
Investment in new housing construction edged up 0.4% from August 2014 to $4.4 billion in August.
Nationally, higher spending on apartment and apartment-condominium building construction and, to a lesser degree, row house construction, offset lower investment in single-family and semi-detached dwelling construction.
Investment in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction totalled $1.6 billion in August, up 24.8% compared with the same month a year earlier. This was the fourth consecutive double-digit advance. Spending on row housing amounted to $432 million, up 7.5% from August 2014.
Investment in the construction of single-family dwellings fell 11.6% year over year to $2.2 billion. Construction spending on semi-detached dwellings declined 12.8% to $236 million.
Increases were registered in three provinces, led by Ontario, followed by British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
In Ontario, construction spending grew 14.5% to $1.7 billion in August compared with the same month a year earlier. Spending on single-family houses accounted for much of the growth, followed by apartment and apartment-condominium buildings. In contrast, investment in semi-detached dwellings fell 20.7% year over year, marking the sixth consecutive decline.
In British Columbia, investment rose 16.9% to $809 million in August. The growth came from all dwelling types except semi-detached dwellings. However, higher construction spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings accounted for most of the advance.
In Nova Scotia, investment in new housing construction increased 15.1% from August 2014 to $63 million in August. The advance was attributable to higher construction spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings, which offset lower investment in the other dwelling types, particularly single-family houses.
Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan registered the largest decreases.
Note to readers
Data on investment in new housing construction (including single-family dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, row housing, apartments and condominiums) are not seasonally adjusted and all comparisons in this release are between August 2014 and August 2015.
Data in CANSIM are available at the national and provincial–territorial levels, in both current and constant dollars (base year 2007).
Unless otherwise specified, the highlights refer to current dollars and are ranked in terms of dollar change rather than percentage change.
Estimates for investment in new housing construction are periodically revised when quarterly residential investment data are released.
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).
To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Mariane Bien-Aimé (613-951-7520; mariane.bien-aime@canada.ca), Investment, Science and Technology Division.
- Date modified: