March Building Construction Investment: Multi-Unit Component Drags Down Residential Sector

June 2, 2025

Overall, investment in building construction decreased 0.9% (-$192.2 million) to $22.2 billion in March. The residential sector declined 1.8% to $15.3 billion while the non-residential sector was up 1.3% to $6.8 billion. Year over year, investment in building construction grew 5.4% in March.

On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), investment in building construction decreased 0.8% from the previous month to $13.2 billion in March and was up 2.4% year over year.

Multi-unit component drags down residential sector

Investment in residential building construction decreased by $277.7 million to $15.3 billion in March. The decrease was driven by multi-unit construction (-3.8%) and tempered by single-family home investment (+0.5%).

Investment in multi-unit construction declined by $313.9 million to $8.0 billion in March. The monthly decline was largely attributed to Ontario (-$130.8 million) and Quebec (-$111.6 million). Meanwhile, New Brunswick (+$17.2 million) saw the largest increase, followed by three other provinces.

Single family home investment edged up by $36.2 million to $7.3 billion in March. Growth in five provinces and one territory, led by Quebec (+$131.6 million) and Manitoba (+$38.2 million), was largely mitigated by decreases in Ontario (-$96.8 million) and Alberta (-$53.1 million).

British Columbia leads growth in non-residential investment

Investment in non-residential construction increased by $85.5 million to $6.8 billion in March, marking the eighth consecutive monthly increase. The growth was spread across the three non-residential subsectors in March, with gains in the institutional (+2.4%), commercial (+1.0%), and industrial (+0.3%) components.

Investment in the institutional component grew by $47.4 million to $2.0 billion in March. Gains were recorded in seven provinces and two territories, led by Saskatchewan (+$18.5 million) and British Columbia (+$11.5 million).

Commercial construction investment rose by $32.9 million to $3.3 billion in March. Gains were led by British Columbia (+$26.2 million) and Ontario (+$11.6 million). Quebec (-$11.1 million) tempered the growth in the commercial component.

The industrial component edged up by $5.2 million to $1.5 billion in March. Declines were recorded in eight provinces and two territories, while growth was observed in Alberta (+$9.5 million) and Quebec (+$5.3 million) and in Yukon (+$0.2 million).

First quarter summary: Non-residential growth leads first quarter gains

Investment in building construction grew 3.3% to $66.6 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Year over year, investment in building construction grew 6.5% in the first quarter.

Investment in the non-residential sector was up 2.8% to $20.3 billion in the first quarter. The quarterly growth was largely due to gains in Ontario (+$401.4 million), along with seven other provinces and two territories. The overall institutional component recorded the largest increase (+5.6%), followed by the industrial component (+3.7%) and the commercial component (+0.8%).

Investment in the residential sector increased 3.5% to $46.3 billion in the first quarter, led by the multi-unit component (+6.5%), while single family home investment edged up 0.2%.

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