September 3, 2004

Investment in housing up 15.7% over 2003

Residential construction still surging

BY GRANT CAMERON

STAFF WRITER

Canada’s residential construction industry continued to surge in the second quarter of this year with the total value of investment in housing climbing to $18.5 billion.

That’s 16.3 per cent higher than the $15.9 billion invested in the second quarter of 2003.

Significant increases in the three components of residential construction investment—new housing, renovations and acquisition costs—were responsible for the strong showing.

The figures were released in a report Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

Since the start of 2004, investment in the housing sector has reached $32.3 billion, up 15.7 per cent from the total for the first six months of 2003.

StatsCan says low mortgage rates and their positive impact on the accessibility of homeownership, along with a high level of employment, are some of the factors that have stimulated the demand for new housing.

Investment in the construction of new housing reached $9.1 billion in the second quarter, up 17.3 per cent from the second quarter of 2003.

The greatest contribution to this growth came from increased investment in the construction of single- family homes, which was up 11.8 per cent to $5.9 billion.

Investment in the construction of new apartments/condominiums also increased 40.4 per cent to $1.9 billion in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, expenditures on renovations to the existing housing stock in the second quarter reached $7.8 billion, up 13.6 per cent from the value recorded in the second quarter of 2003.

Acquisition costs were also up, rising 23.9 per cent to $1.6 billion.

At the provincial level, the largest gain in dollar terms was registered in Quebec with Ontario and British Columbia close behind.

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