2021 was a record year for investment in building construction.Ottawa, ON — Records were broken in 2021. Last year, investment in building construction broke records with an increase of 19.3 per cent to $218.2 billion, reports Statistics Canada.
Additionally, for the year, investment in residential construction was up 28.4 per cent to $162 billion, with single-unit investment accounting for more than half of the gain. In comparison, investment in non-residential construction saw a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent to $56.2 billion.
By the end of the year, investment in building construction had increased by 1.9 per cent to $18.4 billion, with gains seen in both the residential and non-residential sectors.
Residential construction investment rose 2.2 per cent to $13.4 billion in December, with Ontario responsible for more than half of the monthly increase. Additionally, with eight provinces reporting increases, the total investment in single-family homes increased 3.5 per cent to $7.4 billion.
Multi-construction investment also increased, up 0.7 per cent to $6.1 billion. While New Brunswick and Nova Scotia showed increases, the gains in Ontario (plus 1.0 per cent) helped counter the declines seen in Quebec (down 1.0 per cent) and Saskatchewan (down 5.5 per cent).
For the sixth month in a row, non-residential investment increased. Commercial investment increased by 1.7 per cent to $2.7 billion, with Alberta (plus 6.5 per cent) leading the way amongst the provinces.
Thanks to gains in Ontario (plus 2.4 per cent) and Quebec (plus 1.9 per cent), industrial construction investment increased by 1.6 per cent to $842 million. However, with eight provinces reporting declines, investment in institutional construction posted its first decline since late 2020.
Overall, non-residential construction investment increased by 1.1 per cent to $4.9 billion in December.