Alberta leads hike in investment for non-residential building construction

Investment in non-residential building construction across the country increased 4.4 per cent to $13 billion in the third quarter, according to Statistics Canada.

It said the gain, which followed a 2.7 per cent decline in the second quarter, was attributable to the end of a construction strike in Quebec and increases in five other provinces, including Alberta.

“Alberta posted a strong increase as a result of higher spending in commercial, institutional and industrial components,” it said.

Alberta investment reached $2.6 billion in the quarter, up 4.9 per cent from the second quarter and an in- crease of 5.7 per cent from a year ago. Nationally, investment rose 2.7 per cent year-over-year.

Investment increased in 21 of 34 census metro areas, with the largest gains in Montreal and Calgary.

Investment in Calgary was just over $1 billion, up 5.8 per cent from the previous quarter and 5.5 per cent from last year.

“While construction of new houses might be reaching some lofty levels this year, the value of non-residential building across Alberta is once again starting to show momentum,” said Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial.

Commercial construction in the third quarter reached its highest level since the start of the 2009-10 recession, he said.

He said commercial construction, which includes major projects such as shopping centres and office buildings, increased to $1.77 billion in the province, a modest gain over the previous quarter, but the first upward movement in more than a year.

Meanwhile, institutional and government building projects, which includes spending on new schools and health care facilities as well as transportation infrastructure, was higher by $56 million to almost $400 million.

The $1.02 billion spent on nonresidential construction in Calgary was almost twice that of Alberta, Hirsch said.