Investment in new housing construction, March 2018
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Released: 2018-05-22
$4,599.7 million
March 2018
9.7% 
(12-month change)
$26.1 million
March 2018
15.6%
(12-month change)
$13.4 million
March 2018
27.3%
(12-month change)
$71.4 million
March 2018
7.6%
(12-month change)
$26.1 million
March 2018
25.6%
(12-month change)
$720.6 million
March 2018
26.3%
(12-month change)
$1,829.4 million
March 2018
3.0%
(12-month change)
$117.6 million
March 2018
1.4%
(12-month change)
$74.0 million
March 2018
-14.5% 
(12-month change)
$675.9 million
March 2018
8.2%
(12-month change)
$1,039.8 million
March 2018
16.8%
(12-month change)
$2.3 million
March 2018
-25.2%
(12-month change)
$1.2 million
March 2018
-62.2%
(12-month change)
$1.8 million
March 2018
54.4%
(12-month change)
New housing construction investment totalled $4.6 billion in March, up 9.7% from March 2017. This increase was mainly attributable to higher construction investment in apartment buildings (+$333.2 million).
The increase in apartment building construction investment accounted for 81.7% of the total growth in new housing construction investment in Canada. In comparison, single-home construction accounted for 77.0% of the total increase in investment in March 2017.
Investment in new housing construction grew year over year in March for every building type except single-family houses, which fell by $23.5 million (-1.1%). This drop was mostly explained by lower spending on single-family house construction in Ontario (-$92.7 million).
Quebec continued to post the largest increase for apartment building construction (+$155.9 million) for a total investment of $475.7 million, which represented two-thirds of the total investment in new housing construction in the province.
In contrast, investment in Alberta was led by an increase in single house construction of $40.0 million, which accounted for over three-quarters (77.9%) of the total increase in new housing construction investment in the province. At the same time, investment in apartment building construction in Alberta was down by $10.6 million compared with March 2017.
In Saskatchewan, a $12.6 million decrease was primarily due to lower investment in single-family house construction (-$13.4 million).
British Columbia and Prince Edward Island were the only two provinces to post increases for all building types.
Chart 1
Investment in new housing construction, by type of dwelling
Chart 2
Year-over-year change of investment in new housing construction (by dwelling type)
Infographic 1
New housing construction investment, March 2018
Note to readers
Data on investment in new housing construction (including single-family housing, semi-detached housing, row housing, apartments and condominiums) are not seasonally adjusted, and all comparisons in this release are between March 2017 and March 2018.
Data in CANSIM are available at the national and provincial–territorial levels in both current and constant dollars (base year 2007).
Data for investment on apartment building construction in constant dollars has been revised for 2017 to reflect the new index (CANSIM table 327-0058), which will be replacing the Apartment Building Construction Price Index (CANSIM table 327-0044).
Unless otherwise specified, the highlights refer to current dollars and are ranked in terms of dollar change rather than percentage change.
Contact information
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