February Building Construction Investment Falls

Canada: Statistics Canada reported a 1% drop in building construction investment in February. From January, the monthly figure fell 1.1% to $19.3 billion. The residential and non-residential sectors fell.

Residential building construction investment fell 1.2%, or $157 million, to $13.4 billion. Housing fell again in February. In February, detached single-family house investment rose 1.3% to $6.7 billion in all provinces and territories except Yukon. As new starts slowed in 2023, multi-unit investment fell 3.5% to $6.7 billion, mostly in Ontario and Quebec.

Despite the downturn, condo and rental unit investment rose 8.4% from February 2023. That $251 million increase couldn't offset single-home and row-home reductions.

Non-residential investment decreased $52 million in February to $6 billion. Institutional investment rose $29 million to $1.7 billion, but industrial and commercial investment fell $1.3 billion and $3 billion, respectively.

Source: On-Site