Building construction price indexes, third quarter 2024
Released: 2024-11-05
Four census metropolitan areas added in the third quarter
In the third quarter, four census metropolitan areas (CMAs) were added to the Building Construction Price Index: Québec, London, Regina and Victoria. Indexes for these CMAs are available beginning with the first quarter of 2023.
Between the new CMAs, Victoria (+0.8%) saw the largest rise in residential construction prices in the third quarter of 2024, while London (+0.8%) had the largest increase in non-residential construction prices.
From the inception of these indexes in the first quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024, Victoria (+13.4%) experienced the largest growth in residential building construction prices, followed by Regina (+11.6%). Victoria (+11.3%) also recorded the largest increase in non-residential building construction prices, followed by Regina (+8.9%).
Chart 1
Building construction price indexes, quarterly change, third quarter of 2024
National overview
Residential building construction costs increased 0.9% in the third quarter, following a 1.0% increase in the previous quarter. Non-residential building construction costs rose 0.5% in the third quarter, following a 1.4% increase in the previous quarter.
This marks the slowest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2020 for residential building construction costs and since the fourth quarter of the same year for non-residential building construction costs.
Year over year, construction costs for residential buildings rose 4.0% in the 15-CMA composite in the third quarter of 2024, while non-residential building construction costs increased 3.9%.
Builders noted that the industry continued to face cost pressure from skilled labour shortages, land prices and availability, and building code changes.
Prairies record largest increases in residential construction costs
In the third quarter, Calgary (+1.3%) recorded the largest quarterly increase in residential construction costs, followed by Winnipeg (+1.1%). London (+0.2%) experienced the lowest quarterly growth in residential construction costs, while costs were constant in St. John's.
At the 15-CMA composite level, the costs to build single-detached houses (+0.9%) and townhouses (+0.9%) saw the largest price increases of all residential buildings in scope of the survey.
At the division level for residential building construction, general requirements (+1.7%) and finishes (+1.4%) recorded the largest quarterly increases in the third quarter. Communications (+0.1%), equipment (+0.1%) and electrical (+0.1%) divisions experienced the smallest quarterly price increases.
Decline in electrical division slows non-residential construction cost growth
Costs to construct non-residential buildings increased the most in Vancouver (+0.9%) in the third quarter, followed by London (+0.8%), Edmonton (+0.8%) and Calgary (+0.8%).
Of all non-residential buildings surveyed, the costs to build warehouses (+0.7%) and office buildings (+0.7%) rose the most in the 15-CMA composite in the third quarter, with shopping centres (+0.6%) experiencing a similar price increase.
Non-residential building construction costs increased across all but one division measured, with earthwork (+1.1%) and general requirements (+1.1%) divisions recording the largest increases, while the electrical division (-0.5%) experienced a cost decline.
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Note to readers
The building construction price indexes are quarterly series that measure the change over time in the prices that contractors charge to construct a range of new commercial, institutional, industrial and residential buildings in 15 census metropolitan areas (CMAs): St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Québec, Montréal, Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario part), Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. Provincial-level indexes are also calculated and are based on the respective CMA-level movements.
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 four residential structures: a single-detached house, a townhouse, a high-rise apartment building (five storeys or more) and a low-rise apartment building (fewer 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.
With the publication of the third quarter of 2024 data, the indexes have been rebased to 2023=100 and table 18-10-0276 has been archived and replaced by table 18-10-0289. The information that was in table 18-10-0276 has been rebased and is also available in the new table, except for the four new CMAs, for which data are only available from 2023 onwards. Even though the indexes have been rebased, the quarterly changes of the indexes prior to 2023 are identical to what was released in the previous tables. Any differences that are identified are due to rounding. The quarterly changes from 2023 onwards may have changed because the weights have been updated and four CMAs were added.
CMA-level and building-level weights are available on an annual basis and can be found in table 18-10-0290. Further, division-level weights for all building types within each CMA are available on an annual basis and can be found in table 18-10-0291.
Products
The Building Construction Price Indexes Data Visualization Tool is now available. It provides access to current and historical data from the Building Construction Price Index for four residential and six non-residential building types, for the CMAs of St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Québec, Montréal, Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario part), Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as for a composite of these 15 CMAs, in a dynamic and customizable format.
Statistics Canada launched the Producer Price Indexes Portal as part of a suite of portals for prices and price indexes. This webpage provides Canadians with a single point of access to a wide variety of statistics and measures related to producer prices.
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.
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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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