Architectural services growth tempered by slower housing investment in 2023
Total operating revenue of the architectural services and landscape architectural services industries—which are responsible for planning and designing residential, industrial, commercial, institutional and government buildings, as well as land developments—grew at a more tempered pace of 7.5% in 2023 to reach $7.2 billion, following two years of double-digit growth.
In 2021, the architectural services industry benefitted from strong housing demand and investment. Housing starts, particularly for single-detached homes, accounted for 6.1% of sales in 2021 and returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2023, accounting for 5.1% of sales.
Conversely, an uptick in non-residential building combined with higher prices for architectural services helped buoy architectural services revenue in 2023. The share of non-residential building projects, such as office buildings, educational institutions, health care institutions and retail stores and restaurants, rose 0.8% to account for 49.4% of total sales in 2023.
Total operating expenses for architectural services and landscape architectural services industries rose 7.9% to $6.0 billion in 2023, leading to a profit margin of 16.8%. The largest operating expense was salaries and wages (51.0%), which grew 7.0% to $3.1 billion in 2023. The next-highest operating expenses were subcontracts (13.3%), all other costs (7.5%) and professional and business fees (6.6%).
The industries' sales to businesses accounted for the largest share of total sales (53.0%) in 2023, followed by sales to governments, non-profit organizations and public institutions (33.0%), individuals and households (11.3%) and customers outside Canada (2.7%).
Operating revenue, architectural services and landscape architectural services
Source: Table 21-10-0036-01.
A look ahead to 2024
Following two years of slower housing starts and investment, housing starts saw a slight recovery in the first half of 2024. However, high interest rates appeared to have slowed the investment in non-residential building, which could have a larger impact on architectural services in the coming year. Detailed financial statistics of the architectural services and landscape architectural services industries for 2024 will be provided after survey data are collected in 2025.
Note to readers
Data from 2021 and 2022 have been revised.
Information on housing starts was taken from tables 34-10-0126-01 (annual) and 34-10-0158-01 (monthly).
Information on residential and non-residential capital investment was taken from Table 36-10-0108-01.
Information on the Architectural, Engineering and Related Services Price Index was taken from Table 18-10-0164-01.
Information on investment in building construction was taken from Table 34-10-0286-01.
These and other data related to business and consumer services can be found at the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
Reference
Data tables: 21-10-0036-01, 21-10-0037-01, 21-10-0038-01 and 21-10-0198-01
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2420
Previous release: Architectural services, 2022
Contact information
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