Investment in home building in BC increased nearly 12.6 per cent year over year in December to $713 million, according to Statistics Canada figures released February 22.
Single-family home construction saw the largest total investment of the four property types at $327 million, a rise of 4.9 per cent compared with December2014, although this was a seasonally predictable drop of 9.2 per cent month over month.
Multi-family construction in the province was a close second in total investment at $303 million spent in December. But this figure was again a much steeper pace of annual growth, at 25.5 per cent more than December 2014. The figure was a decline of 10.1 per cent compared with November.
Although spending on townhouse and row home construction is much lower, the figure keeps rising steadily, up 15.6 per cent year over year to $62 million in December. This was fall of 15.4 per cent from November 2015.
Continuing the trend of the last several months, the only new home type to see an annual decline in investment in December was duplex housing, spending on which fell nearly 19 per cent year over year to total less than $23 million, a slight rise of 2.3 per cent from November.
As usual, the province’s total $713 million new home construction spend was once again the third-highest dollar figure in the country, after Ontario and Alberta.
BC’s 12.6 per cent annual increase in December was again the second-sharpest rise in new home investment, with only Ontario outpacing the province, as Alberta’s total was a near-16 per cent drop compared with December 2014.
Across the country, investment in new home building rose at a much more moderate pace than BC’s, with its total of $3.9 billion in Decembera rise of 4.8 per cent from the same month a year earlier and a drop of 10.2 per cent compared with November.
As with last month, the strongest growth in Canadian construction investment was seen in multi-family home buildings, which rose nearly 24 per cent year over year. There was also some increased spending on townhomes and row homes, up 3.4 per cent since the previous December.
Statistics Canada yet again reported notable year-over-year declines in nationwide spending on single-family housing and duplexes, with investment in these homes dropping 3.4 per cent and 16.2 per cent respectively.
To see Statistics Canada’s interactive chart, click here.
