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Investment in non-residential building construction
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Investment in non-residential building construction reached $10.1 billion in the second quarter, up 1.2% from the previous quarter. This marked the first quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 2008, when the economy headed into the downturn. Investment was still 7.7% lower than the value reported in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The second quarter increase was driven by higher spending on commercial and industrial buildings. Investment in the institutional component declined, ending 12 consecutive increases.
Note to readers
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars unless otherwise specified.
Investments in non-residential building construction exclude engineering construction. This series is based on the Building Permits Survey of municipalities, which collects information on construction intentions.
Work put-in-place patterns are assigned to each type of structure (industrial, commercial and institutional). These work patterns are used to distribute the value of building permits according to project length. Work put-in-place patterns differ according to the value of the construction project; a project worth several million dollars will usually take longer to complete than will a project of a few hundred thousand dollars.
Additional data from the Capital and Repair Expenditures Surveys are used to create this investment series. Investments in non-residential building data are benchmarked to Statistics Canada's System of National Accounts of non-residential building investment series.
For the purpose of this release, the census metropolitan area of Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario/Quebec) is divided into two areas: the Ottawa part and the Gatineau part.
Half of the provinces posted gains in the second quarter. Ontario had the largest increase followed by Quebec, mainly as a result of higher spending on construction of commercial and industrial buildings.
British Columbia and Alberta recorded the largest declines, primarily due to lower spending in the institutional and commercial components.
Investment was up in 17 of the 34 census metropolitan areas. Montréal posted the largest increase, as investment increased 9.2% to $844 million. This was due mainly to an advance in commercial and institutional projects.
The largest declines occurred in Vancouver and Edmonton, as a result of decreases in all three components.
Commercial component
Investors put $5.5 billion into commercial projects in the second quarter, up 1.5% from the previous quarter. This halted five consecutive quarterly declines. Among the seven provinces posting increases in the second quarter, gains were spread among several commercial construction categories.
The largest contributions in the commercial component came from Ontario (+4.5% to $2.2 billion) and Quebec (+4.8% to $981 million). The increase in both provinces was mainly the result of higher spending on recreational and office buildings.
British Columbia had the largest decline, mainly due to lower spending in several commercial construction categories.
Industrial component
Following seven consecutive quarterly declines, investment in industrial building increased 6.9% to $1.1 billion in the second quarter. This increase was due to higher spending in all industrial construction categories.
Provincially, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta contributed the most to this rise in the industrial component. Growth in Ontario was due to higher investment in all industrial building categories. In Quebec, the increase came mainly from spending on manufacturing buildings. In Alberta, the gain was due mostly to higher investment in utilities' building.
Saskatchewan posted the sharpest decline, the result of lower investment in several industrial building categories.
Institutional component
Investment in institutional construction decreased 1.0% from the previous quarter to $3.5 billion. Despite the decline, the second quarter level was 12.1% higher compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Lower investment in health care facilities in eight provinces accounted for most of the second quarter decline.
Among the six provinces that posted declines, Alberta had the largest decrease, followed by Ontario and British Columbia, mainly as a result of lower spending in health care facilities.
Quebec posted the largest gain after two consecutive quarters of decreases. This was the result of higher spending in the construction of educational buildings.
Available on CANSIM: table 026-0016.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5014.
More detailed data on investment in non-residential building construction are also available in free tables online from the Key resource module of our website under Summary tables.
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, Nicole Charron (613-951-0087; bdp_information@statcan.gc.ca), Investment and Capital Stock Division.
Table 1
| Second quarter 2009 | First quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2010 | First quarter to second quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2009 to second quarter 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||
| Canada | |||||
| Total non-residential | 10,514 | 9,996 | 10,114 | 1.2 | -3.8 |
| Industrial | 1,178 | 998 | 1,067 | 6.9 | -9.4 |
| Institutional | 3,137 | 3,551 | 3,516 | -1.0 | 12.1 |
| Commercial | 6,199 | 5,447 | 5,531 | 1.5 | -10.8 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | |||||
| Total non-residential | 83 | 64 | 67 | 5.5 | -19.2 |
| Industrial | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2.3 | -16.9 |
| Institutional | 27 | 25 | 26 | 4.6 | -3.3 |
| Commercial | 51 | 35 | 37 | 6.5 | -27.7 |
| Prince Edward Island | |||||
| Total non-residential | 34 | 19 | 21 | 8.5 | -39.2 |
| Industrial | 7 | 2 | 2 | 36.1 | -65.2 |
| Institutional | 10 | 7 | 7 | -2.8 | -31.7 |
| Commercial | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12.2 | -33.3 |
| Nova Scotia | |||||
| Total non-residential | 162 | 167 | 189 | 13.4 | 16.5 |
| Industrial | 15 | 17 | 20 | 20.7 | 34.2 |
| Institutional | 62 | 59 | 71 | 19.8 | 14.2 |
| Commercial | 85 | 91 | 98 | 7.9 | 15.0 |
| New Brunswick | |||||
| Total non-residential | 152 | 180 | 177 | -2.1 | 16.3 |
| Industrial | 25 | 20 | 18 | -12.4 | -30.1 |
| Institutional | 48 | 83 | 89 | 7.2 | 84.3 |
| Commercial | 78 | 77 | 70 | -9.4 | -10.8 |
| Quebec | |||||
| Total non-residential | 1,781 | 1,672 | 1,762 | 5.4 | -1.1 |
| Industrial | 273 | 230 | 247 | 7.8 | -9.3 |
| Institutional | 534 | 506 | 534 | 5.4 | -0.1 |
| Commercial | 974 | 936 | 981 | 4.8 | 0.7 |
| Ontario | |||||
| Total non-residential | 3,928 | 3,775 | 3,900 | 3.3 | -0.7 |
| Industrial | 387 | 369 | 415 | 12.6 | 7.4 |
| Institutional | 1,300 | 1,320 | 1,304 | -1.2 | 0.3 |
| Commercial | 2,241 | 2,086 | 2,181 | 4.5 | -2.7 |
Table 2
| Second quarter 2009 | First quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2010 | First quarter to second quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2009 to second quarter 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||
| Manitoba | |||||
| Total non-residential | 205 | 205 | 204 | -0.8 | -0.8 |
| Industrial | 25 | 19 | 19 | -0.8 | -24.5 |
| Institutional | 53 | 57 | 51 | -9.9 | -3.8 |
| Commercial | 127 | 129 | 133 | 3.2 | 5.1 |
| Saskatchewan | |||||
| Total non-residential | 368 | 366 | 363 | -0.6 | -1.1 |
| Industrial | 83 | 70 | 59 | -16.5 | -29.4 |
| Institutional | 115 | 135 | 133 | -1.5 | 15.3 |
| Commercial | 169 | 161 | 172 | 7.1 | 1.6 |
| Alberta | |||||
| Total non-residential | 2,513 | 2,257 | 2,207 | -2.2 | -12.2 |
| Industrial | 275 | 203 | 215 | 6.0 | -21.7 |
| Institutional | 647 | 886 | 844 | -4.7 | 30.5 |
| Commercial | 1,591 | 1,168 | 1,148 | -1.7 | -27.9 |
| British Columbia | |||||
| Total non-residential | 1,252 | 1,213 | 1,139 | -6.1 | -9.0 |
| Industrial | 81 | 58 | 58 | 0.8 | -28.3 |
| Institutional | 328 | 438 | 424 | -3.3 | 29.1 |
| Commercial | 843 | 717 | 658 | -8.3 | -22.0 |
| Yukon | |||||
| Total non-residential | 6 | 25 | 32 | 26.7 | 410.5 |
| Industrial | 1 | 6 | 6 | 7.5 | 560.5 |
| Institutional | 2 | 9 | 9 | 5.1 | 295.0 |
| Commercial | 3 | 10 | 16 | 55.8 | 450.0 |
| Northwest Territories | |||||
| Total non-residential | 24 | 40 | 38 | -4.8 | 59.4 |
| Industrial | 1 | 0 | 1 | 14,512.5 | 78.6 |
| Institutional | 9 | 21 | 19 | -8.4 | 121.5 |
| Commercial | 15 | 19 | 18 | -6.8 | 21.3 |
| Nunavut | |||||
| Total non-residential | 6 | 13 | 15 | 10.8 | 134.1 |
| Industrial | 0 | 1 | 0 | -22.0 | 598.6 |
| Institutional | 0 | 5 | 6 | 12.9 | 1,129.8 |
| Commercial | 6 | 8 | 9 | 12.1 | 51.5 |
Table 3
| Second quarter 2009 | First quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2010 | First quarter to second quarter 2010 | Second quarter 2009 to second quarter 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||
| Total | 8,039 | 7,543 | 7,534 | -0.1 | -6.3 |
| St. John's | 55 | 38 | 40 | 5.4 | -26.7 |
| Halifax | 91 | 96 | 100 | 3.9 | 10.0 |
| Moncton | 38 | 52 | 48 | -7.1 | 27.7 |
| Saint John | 41 | 51 | 43 | -15.0 | 4.6 |
| Saguenay | 62 | 55 | 48 | -11.9 | -22.3 |
| Québec | 271 | 225 | 216 | -3.7 | -20.1 |
| Sherbrooke | 43 | 48 | 48 | 0.1 | 10.7 |
| Trois-Rivières | 44 | 50 | 48 | -4.2 | 9.2 |
| Montréal | 817 | 773 | 844 | 9.2 | 3.3 |
| Ottawa–Gatineau, Ontario/Quebec | 365 | 388 | 395 | 1.9 | 8.3 |
| Gatineau part | 80 | 67 | 64 | -4.9 | -20.0 |
| Ottawa part | 285 | 321 | 331 | 3.3 | 16.2 |
| Kingston | 68 | 53 | 53 | -0.8 | -22.6 |
| Peterborough | 26 | 34 | 35 | 3.5 | 32.4 |
| Oshawa | 108 | 98 | 103 | 4.8 | -5.1 |
| Toronto | 1,877 | 1,633 | 1,637 | 0.2 | -12.8 |
| Hamilton | 228 | 227 | 221 | -2.5 | -3.0 |
| St. Catharines–Niagara | 60 | 84 | 88 | 5.8 | 47.9 |
| Kitchener | 197 | 213 | 258 | 21.5 | 30.9 |
| Brantford | 29 | 37 | 35 | -6.1 | 20.3 |
| Guelph | 34 | 50 | 54 | 7.5 | 59.6 |
| London | 158 | 111 | 125 | 12.0 | -21.2 |
| Windsor | 45 | 74 | 77 | 4.3 | 72.6 |
| Barrie | 130 | 114 | 102 | -10.7 | -21.5 |
| Greater Sudbury | 57 | 61 | 64 | 5.9 | 12.8 |
| Thunder Bay | 37 | 17 | 20 | 15.9 | -45.6 |
| Winnipeg | 142 | 140 | 140 | 0.4 | -1.1 |
| Regina | 86 | 95 | 97 | 2.8 | 13.1 |
| Saskatoon | 183 | 154 | 146 | -5.1 | -20.1 |
| Calgary | 1,092 | 969 | 950 | -1.9 | -12.9 |
| Edmonton | 702 | 689 | 651 | -5.5 | -7.2 |
| Kelowna | 72 | 133 | 132 | -0.7 | 82.4 |
| Abbotsford–Mission | 39 | 28 | 23 | -16.9 | -41.4 |
| Vancouver | 728 | 612 | 553 | -9.6 | -24.0 |
| Victoria | 113 | 143 | 138 | -4.0 | 21.4 |
