Investment in new housing construction, July 2016
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: 2016-09-21
The value of investment in new housing construction totalled $4.5 billion in July, up 5.9% from the same month in 2015.
The advance at the national level was attributable to higher spending on apartment and apartment-condominium building construction (+13.1% to $1.6 billion), single-family dwelling construction (+1.8% to $2.3 billion) and row house construction (+8.8% to $425 million).
In contrast, investment in semi-detached dwellings declined year over year for the 15th consecutive month, down 3.4% to $233 million in July.
Chart 1
Investment in new housing construction, by type of dwelling
At the provincial level, Ontario and British Columbia were the only provinces to record gains.
In Ontario, investment in new housing construction rose 24.8% year over year to $1.9 billion in July. The increase resulted from higher spending on all four dwelling types, with single-family dwellings, and apartment and apartment-condominium buildings accounting for most of the gain.
In British Columbia, spending on new residential construction totalled $976 million, up 33.7% compared with the same month a year earlier. While investment in all four dwelling types contributed to the advance, higher spending on apartment and apartment-condominium building construction was responsible for much of the increase.
Alberta recorded the largest decline in spending on new residential dwelling construction in July, followed by Quebec, a distant second.
In Alberta, investment fell 30.3% year over year to $634 million in July. This marked the 13th consecutive monthly decline. The decrease was mainly attributable to lower investment in single-family dwellings, and apartment and apartment-condominium buildings.
In Quebec, spending on new housing construction totalled $649 million in July, down 7.3% from July 2015. The decline followed seven consecutive months of year-over-year advances. Lower investment in single-family dwellings was mainly responsible for the decrease, which was moderated by a 46.8% gain in spending on row house construction.
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 July 2015 and July 2016.
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.
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.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: