The second quarter increase was driven by higher spending on commercial and industrial buildings. Investment in the institutional component declined, ending 12 consecutive increases.
Half of the provinces posted gains in the second quarter. Ontario had the largest increase followed by Quebec, mainly as a result of higher spending on construction of commercial and industrial buildings.
British Columbia and Alberta recorded the largest declines, primarily due to lower spending in the institutional and commercial components.
Investment was up in 17 of the 34 census metropolitan areas. Montréal posted the largest increase, as investment increased 9.2% to $844 million. This was due mainly to an advance in commercial and institutional projects.
The largest declines occurred in Vancouver and Edmonton, as a result of decreases in all three components.
Commercial component
Investors put $5.5 billion into commercial projects in the second quarter, up 1.5% from the previous quarter. This halted five consecutive quarterly declines. Among the seven provinces posting increases in the second quarter, gains were spread among several commercial construction categories.
The largest contributions in the commercial component came from Ontario (+4.5% to $2.2 billion) and Quebec (+4.8% to $981 million). The increase in both provinces was mainly the result of higher spending on recreational and office buildings.
British Columbia had the largest decline, mainly due to lower spending in several commercial construction categories.
Industrial component
Following seven consecutive quarterly declines, investment in industrial building increased 6.9% to $1.1 billion in the second quarter. This increase was due to higher spending in all industrial construction categories.
Provincially, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta contributed the most to this rise in the industrial component. Growth in Ontario was due to higher investment in all industrial building categories. In Quebec, the increase came mainly from spending on manufacturing buildings. In Alberta, the gain was due mostly to higher investment in utilities' building.
Saskatchewan posted the sharpest decline, the result of lower investment in several industrial building categories.
Institutional component
Investment in institutional construction decreased 1.0% from the previous quarter to $3.5 billion. Despite the decline, the second quarter level was 12.1% higher compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Lower investment in health care facilities in eight provinces accounted for most of the second quarter decline.
Among the six provinces that posted declines, Alberta had the largest decrease, followed by Ontario and British Columbia, mainly as a result of lower spending in health care facilities.
Quebec posted the largest gain after two consecutive quarters of decreases. This was the result of higher spending in the construction of educational buildings.