According to Statistics Canada, $5.0 billion was invested in new housing construction in April, up 5.8 percent compared with April 2017. The gain was mainly due to increased spending on apartment building construction (+$391.8 million).
Higher investment in apartment building construction was mainly driven by increased spending in Quebec (+$206.5 million) and, to a lesser extent, in British Columbia (+$95.0 million) and Ontario (+$87.1 million).
Investment in new housing construction rose year over year in April for every building type except for single-family homes, which fell by $200.3 million (-8.0 percent). Investments in single-family home construction declined in five provinces, with Ontario posting the largest decline (-$137.7 million), followed by Quebec (-$56.2 million).
Saskatchewan (-$24.0 million), Ontario (-$23.3 million) and Manitoba (-$12.3 million) saw a decline in total investment in new housing construction. For all three provinces, the decrease was primarily due to lower investment in single-family house construction.
For the first time since June 2014, Ontario (-1.2 percent) posted a year-over-year decline in total investment in new housing construction.
British Columbia and Prince Edward Island were the only provinces to post increases for all building types.