Investment in non-residential building construction totalled $2.4 billion in Alberta in the second quarter, down 2.6 per cent from the first quarter of the year, says Statistic Canada.
The federal agency on Thursday said compared with the first quarter of the year, investment in the province rose 7.4 per cent in the industrial sector to $250 million, fell by three per cent in the commercial sector to $1.4 billion and was down 4.9 per cent in the institutional sector.
On an annual basis, investment in non-residential building construction was off by 9.7 per cent from a year ago in Alberta with each sector experiencing a decline – industrial, 2.6 per cent; commercial, 15 per cent; and institutional, 0.8 per cent.
In the Calgary census metropolitan area, investment actually rose by one per cent on a quarterly basis to $912 million. But it was still off 4.8 per cent from a year ago.
In the Edmonton census metropolitan area, investment was down 3.1 per cent on a quarterly basis and by 14.6 per cent on an annual basis to $794 million.
StatsCan said investment in non-residential building construction totalled $14.3 billion in Canada in the second quarter, up 1.4 per cent compared with the first quarter.
The industrial sector rose by 4.8 per cent to $2.3 billion while the commercial sector was up 1.6 per cent to $8.1 billion. The institutional sector fell by 0.9 per cent to $3.9 billion.
“Provincially, the largest decline for institutional building construction was in Alberta, down $38.0 million. Across Canada, 20 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) reported reduced spending on institutional building construction, with Edmonton (-$16.0 million) and Ottawa (-$14.9 million) showing the largest declines,” said StatsCan.
“The largest quarterly decline was in Alberta (-$63.4 million), reflecting lower spending on commercial (-$42.5 million) and institutional (-$38.0 million) building construction. The drop in the commercial component was due to lower spending on theatre and performing art centres and recreational buildings (-$21.5 million), shopping centres (-$12.4 million) and passenger terminals (-$12.4 million).
“The institutional component was down on lower spending on schools (-$57.6 million) and nursing homes (-$15.9 million). The Edmonton CMA reported the biggest drop in spending among Alberta’s CMAs, as spending was down for both commercial (-$24.3 million) and institutional (-$16.0 million) building construction.”
Across Canada, total investment was 7.8 per cent higher than a year ago and it rose in all three sectors – industrial, 20.2 per cent; commercial, 4.9 per cent; and institutional, 7.6 per cent.
Respected business writer Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald in various capacities, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
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