Investment in non-residential building construction, second quarter 2012
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Investment in non-residential building construction increased 1.8% to $11.2 billion in the second quarter. The increase, which followed three quarters of declining investment, was attributable to higher spending in the commercial and industrial components.
Investment in non-residential building construction
Chart description: Investment in non-residential building construction
Investment rose in seven provinces, with the largest increases in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
In Ontario and Alberta, the gains were led by the industrial and commercial components, while in Quebec, they occurred in commercial and institutional spending.
All three investment components declined in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, while in Newfoundland and Labrador, investment decreased in the industrial and institutional components.
Investment rose in 17 of the 34 census metropolitan areas. The biggest increases were in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. All three components were up in Toronto and Vancouver, while commercial and industrial spending contributed to the gains in Montréal.
The largest decreases occurred in St. Catharines–Niagara, where investment fell in the commercial and institutional components, and in Greater Sudbury, where all three components were down.
Commercial component
Investment in commercial building construction rose 2.3% from the first quarter to $6.7 billion. Commercial investment increased in every province except Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
The largest increases occurred in Central Canada. In Quebec, commercial investment rose 4.2% to $1.2 billion, led by the construction of office and retail buildings. Investment in Ontario increased 2.1% to $2.4 billion, led by higher investment in retail buildings.
In Alberta, second quarter commercial investment was up 1.4% to $1.6 billion. The gain came from spending on office and retail buildings and from living quarters for the oilsands projects.
Commercial, institutional and industrial components
Chart description: Commercial, institutional and industrial components
Industrial component
Industrial investment rose 6.2% to $1.4 billion in the second quarter, the third consecutive quarterly gain. Spending was higher in seven provinces, with the largest increases in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.
Alberta led with an 11.2% increase to $333 million, attributable to investment growth in utility and maintenance buildings.
The increases in Ontario and British Columbia were led by rising investment in manufacturing and mining facilities. In Ontario, investment was up 6.7% to $474 million, while in British Columbia, spending increased 22.4% to $137 million.
The largest decline occurred in Newfoundland and Labrador, where investment fell 21.9% to $74 million. Investment declined across several categories of industrial buildings, reflecting the completion of some projects.
Institutional component
In the institutional component, investment declined 1.1% from the first quarter to $3.1 million. This was the ninth consecutive quarterly decrease, although the pace of decline was slower in the second quarter.
Institutional investment declined in seven provinces.
The largest decrease occurred in Alberta, where investment declined 5.3% to $271 million, reflecting the completion of several projects in the educational category.
In British Columbia, investment decreased 3.5% to $348 million. The decline was led by lower spending for educational buildings and health care facilities.
The largest increase was in Quebec, where institutional spending rose 2.8% to $497 million, mostly as a result of larger investment for educational facilities.
Note to readers
Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data expressed in current dollars, which facilitates comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations.
Investments in non-residential building construction exclude engineering construction (such as for highways, sewers, bridges and oil and gas pipelines). 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 Survey 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.
Available without charge in CANSIM: table CANSIM table026-0016.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number survey number5014.
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, choose Summary tables.
For more information, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 613-951-8116; infostats@statcan.gc.ca).
To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Don Overton (613-951-1239), Investment, Science and Technology Division.
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