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March 21, 2019INVESTMENT IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, JANUARY 2019 Total residential and non-residential construction
Investment in Nova Scotia building construction increased 12.6 per cent in January (seasonally adjusted) compared to December 2018. Halifax monthly building construction rose 15.7 per cent. Nationally, investment in building construction rose 6.7 per cent in January. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick reported the strongest monthly gains while Newfoundland and Labrador reported the only monthly decline.
Year-over-year, building construction investment (seasonally adjusted) was up 39.4 per cent in Nova Scotia compared to January 2018. Halifax construction activity was up 26.4 per cent. National building construction investment rose 4.1 per cent with six provinces reporting year-over-year growth. The fastest growth was in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and the largest decline was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador
Total Nova Scotia building construction investment reached $341 million in January. In recent years, Halifax has accounted for a rising share of construction activity in the province. After reporting about 51 per cent of total construction activity in 2016, Halifax's share of building construction activity rose to 59 per cent of the total in 2018.
Residential activity accounts for most of the trend in monthly building construction investment, accounting for 85 per cent of the January total. Non-residential construction activity makes up a much smaller share of total investment.
Residential construction
In January 2019, residential construction was up 15.4 per cent in Nova Scotia (seasonally adjusted) compared to December. National residential construction rose 9.0 per cent month-to-month. All provinces saw monthly growth in residential construction investment, with New Brunswick reporting the fastest monthly growth and Newfoundland and Labrador reporting the slowest growth.
Year-over-year residential construction investment (seasonally adjusted) was up 49.8 per cent in Nova Scotia compared to January 2018. Halifax's residential construction was up 38.1 per cent. National residential construction was up 8.1 per cent. Among the provinces, Nova Scotia reported the fastest year-over-year growth. Three provinces reported declines from January 2018 with the largest decline reported in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Investment in renovations tends to represent the largest share of residential construction investment in Nova Scotia. In January 2019, renovation investment (not seasonally adjusted) is up 93.2 per cent in Nova Scotia compared to January 2018. New housing construction investment was down 5.1 per cent year-over-year due to lower construction investment in single dwelling structures across the province.
Non-residential construction
Non-residential building construction declined by 0.6 per cent in Nova Scotia in January (seasonally adjusted) compared to December. National non-residential building construction was up 1.5 per cent month-to-month. Five provinces reported monthly gains, with the fastest growth reported in Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. New Brunswick reported the largest monthly decline.
Year-over-year, Nova Scotia's non-residential construction (seasonally adjusted) increased by 1.3 per cent compared to January 2018. Halifax's non-residential construction declined 14.8 per cent year-over-year. National non-residential construction investment declined 4.1 per cent. The fastest growth was in Newfoundland and Labrador and the fastest decline was reported in New Brunswick.
Comparing January 2019 with January 2018, higher investment outside of Halifax offset lower commercial and institutional/governmental investment in Halifax.
Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0175-01 Investment in Building Construction
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