Building construction investment ticked up by 1.8 percent in July, data from Statistics Canada shows.

Investment rose to more than $15 billion for the month. Of that figure, $9.9 billion was invested in the residential sector—an increase of 4.9 percent over the previous month; investment in the non-residential sector dropped 3.7 percent to $5.3 billion.

Thanks to an overall rebound in the past few months, investment in building construction is now only slightly lower than in February 2020—before COVID-19 construction restrictions were first put in place.

Residential construction up for the third consecutive month

Investment in residential construction rose was spurred by increases in both single-unit (+7.5 percent to $5.1 billion) and multi-unit (+2.4 percent to $4.8 billion) segments. Ontario (+4.5 percent to $4.0 billion) and Quebec (+5.6 percent to $2.0 billion) led all of Canada in residential gains.

Despite another month of residential growth, national investment was 3.7 percent lower than the pre-COVID-19 levels observed in February 2020. Quebec had the largest gap between current and pre-COVID-19 levels, down $249.6 million or 10.9 percent compared with February 2020.

Non-residential investment pulls back

Following strong gains in June, non-residential construction investment declined 3.7 percent to $5.3 billion in July, with decreases reported in all three components. Eight provinces reported declines for the month, with the largest decreases in Ontario (-3.2 percent to $2.1 billion) and Quebec (-4.8 percent to $1.4 billion). Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.2 percent) and Prince Edward Island (+4.1 percent) were the only provinces to report gains for the month. Further declines are anticipated in this sector as many office buildings and shopping malls remain under-utilized.

The commercial component represented the majority of non-residential declines, down 5.0 percent to $3.1 billion in July. The largest declines were reported in Quebec (-7.8 percent) and Ontario (-3.9 percent), although both provinces remained above pre-COVID-19 levels. Declines in those provinces were attributed to a combination of fewer new construction starts, and several major projects winding down to completion.

Investment in the institutional component dropped 0.8 percent to $1.2 billion, while investment in the industrial component fell 2.8 percent.