February 16, 2024 – Investment in building construction edged up 0.3% month-over-month to $19.8 billion in December 2023, reports Statistics Canada. The residential sector grew 0.3% to $13.8 billion, while investment in the non-residential sector also rose 0.3%, to $6.1 billion.

On the residential front, gains in Quebec (+4.6%, +$107 million), Ontario (+1.4%, +$78 million), British Columbia (+0.9%, +$21 million) and Prince Edward Island (+11.9%, +$9 million) were partially offset by declines in the other six provinces, where the pace of new construction slowed from earlier in the year.

Investment in detached single-family homes declined 1.0% to $6.5 billion, while investment in multi-unit buildings—which includes apartments, semi-detached and row homes—increased 1.6% to $7.3 billion.

In the non-residential space, increases were seen in nine provinces, with only Newfoundland & Labrador (-2.9%, $24.8 million) reporting a decline.

Gains in the institutional (+3.4%, $1.7 billion) and industrial (+0.4%, $1.3 billion) components were mostly offset by a decline in commercial investment (-1.3%, $3.1 billion).

Looking back over the final quarter, 2023

In Q4 2023, investment in building construction grew 7.8% to $59.0 billion.

This quarterly increase was led by growth in the residential sector (+11.1%, $40.9 billion), which was responsible for over 95% of the total increase in investment for the quarter.

The increase in investment was broad-based, with eight provinces reporting strong gains.

Prince Edward Island (-1.5%, $233.9 million) and Newfoundland & Labrador (-7.0%, $197.4 million) were the only provinces reporting declines in Q4 2023.

Investment in the non-residential sector grew 1.1% to $18.1 billion in Q4, marking a new high for the series, Statistics Canada says, and the 12th consecutive quarterly gain for the sector in Canada.

Gains in the non-residential sector were driven by institutional (+7.5%, $4.9 billion) and industrial (+2.9%, $3.8 billion) investments, which were partially offset by the decline in commercial investment (-2.5%, $9.5 billion).

Investment down overall in 2023

Year-over-year, investment in building construction declined 6.6% to $229.1 billion in 2023.

Statistics Canada presents the remainder of their findings in constant dollars (2017=100) to focus on real changes to the value of investment in building construction.

The residential sector cooled off from 2022, declining 16.9% to $94.0 billion in 2023. This retreat was broad-based, with nine provinces posting declines. New Brunswick, however, recorded a modest growth of 1.5% to $2.1 billion.

This decline was led by the drop in the single-dwelling component (-22.7%, $46.2 billion), while investment in the multi-dwelling component declined at a lower rate (-10.6%, $47.7 billion).

The non-residential sector edged up 0.6% to $49.8 billion in 2023, the second consecutive annual increase. The gain in the industrial component (+11.5%, $9.5 billion) was mostly offset by declines in investment in the commercial (-1.9%, $27.1 billion) and institutional (-1.1%, $13.9 billion) components.