Canada: Investment in Residential Housing
July 2016For the ninth consecutive year, investment in residential construction increased year-over year. In the first quarter, total investment in residential construction rose 2.1% to $26.1 billion compared with the same quarter in 2015. Higher investment in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction, up 21.2% to $4.1 billion, was responsible for the advance at the national level.
The latest data from April shows that new residential construction increased 8.4%, totaling $4.2 billion, compared to the same month in 2015. Continuing the trend, increase was driven by the higher investment levels in apartment and apartment-condominium building.
While investment within the past few months has increased at a fast rate, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) projects housing starts to slow down for the remainder of 2016 and going into 2017. Annual housing starts are expected to range from 181,000 units to 192,000 units in 2016 and from 172,000 units to 183,000 units in 2017. The forecast for the housing market will have strong regional variations due to slower growth in oil-producing provinces.