New housing construction investment in BC continued its rise, up 17 per cent year over year in June, according to Statistics Canada data released August 20.
The province’s $715 million new home construction spend was again the third highest total in the country, after Ontario and Alberta. BC’s new home investment growth rate was Canada’s second highest after Yukon (up 19.2 per cent year over year).
Like last month, apartment-condo construction led the investment growth in BC, rising 21 per cent compared with June 2014 to a total of $284 million.
Investment in single-family homes increased its growth rate, with its $340 million of spending a 15.4 per cent rise over the same month last year.
This was followed by duplexes, investment in which was up 13.4 per cent year over year to $29 million. Townhome construction investment in BC continued to rise but at the slowest rate of all property types, increasing 10.6 per cent year over year to $62 million.
As with previous months, nationwide new home spending increases were much more modest. Investment in new home construction across Canada totalled $4.1 billion in May, up 3.1 per cent from the same month a year earlier.
Statistics Canada reported that the increase came mostly from higher investment in apartment and condominium building construction, up 12.8 per cent to $1.3 billion, as well as higher spending on row house construction, up 4.2 per cent to $384 million.
Single-family home and duplex construction across Canada both saw year-over-year declines in construction investment nationwide, falling 0.9 and 9.4 per cent respectively, although detached homes saw the biggest total investment in June at $2.13 billion.
To see Statistics Canada’s interactive chart, click here.
