Investment in new housing construction, March 2016
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Released: 2016-05-20
Investment in new residential construction totalled $3.8 billion in March, up 9.7% from the same month a year earlier.
Chart 1
Investment in new housing construction, by type of dwelling
At the national level, higher spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings, which rose 19.9% to $1.4 billion, and single-family dwellings, which increased 5.9% to $1.9 billion, contributed the most to the advance. Investment in row houses also registered an increase, rising 9.2% to $384 million.
Conversely, spending on semi-detached dwellings decreased year over year for the 11th consecutive month, down 15.1% to $164 million in March.
At the provincial level, the largest increases in new housing investment were recorded in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Nova Scotia also posted an increase in construction spending.
In Ontario, spending increased 35.5% year over year to $1.5 billion in March. Investment rose in all dwelling types except semi-detached buildings, which declined year over year for the 13th consecutive month.
Investment in new housing construction rose 28.0% in British Columbia to $822 million. The increase was largely attributable to spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings. Higher investment in single-family dwellings and row houses was also observed.
In Quebec, spending totalled $541 million, up 12.5% year over year. Increases in investment occurred in all dwelling types, though the gain was largely led by spending on apartment and apartment-condominium buildings.
In Nova Scotia, spending on new housing construction rose 6.7% from the same month a year earlier to $53 million in March. The advance came mainly from higher investment in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction.
Investment in new housing construction decreased in the remaining provinces in March compared with March 2015. The largest decreases were observed in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In Alberta, this marked the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year declines, with spending down 27.4% to $681 million.
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 March 2015 and March 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.
Data on investment in new housing construction from January 2015 to February 2016 have been revised.
Contact information
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To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Monia Bergeron (613-286-5152; monia.bergeron@canada.ca), Investment, Science and Technology Division.
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