February investment in building construction declines

Month over month, investment in building construction declined 1.1 percent to $19.3 billion in February, says Statistics Canada. Investment in the residential sector decreased 1.2 percent to $13.4 billion, while investment in the non-residential sector fell 0.9 percent to $6.0 billion.

The decrease in residential building construction investment marked the second monthly decline in a row. The monthly decline in February was led by Ontario (-$153 million to $5.2 billion). Meanwhile, investment in residential building construction edged up in six provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador (+$16 million to $78 million).

Nationally, investment in detached single-family homes increased 1.3 percent to $6.7 billion in February, with all provinces and territories apart from Yukon reporting gains for this component. At the same time, multi-unit investment decreased 3.5 percent to $6.7 billion in February, driven by declines in Ontario (-6.0 percent to $2.6 billion) and Quebec (-4.9 percent to $1.2 billion) as the pace of new starts slowed from earlier in 2023.

The decrease in the non-residential sector consisted of gains in the institutional component (+$29 million to $1.7 billion) and declines in industrial (-$4 million to $1.3 billion) and commercial (-$77 million to $3.0 billion) investment. The decline in commercial investment represented the eighth consecutive monthly decline, with seven provinces contributing to the negative movement.