Calgary leads the way, but Vancouver also sets fast pace
Province
OTTAWA — An office-building boom in Alberta pushed investment in non-residential building construction to another record high in the second quarter of the year, Statistics Canada reported yesterday.
Investment from April to June 2007 hit $9.9 billion, up five per cent from the first quarter, extending the upward trend in investment seen for the past four years, the agency said. In constant dollars, investment in non-residential building construction rose 2.1 per cent from the first quarter.
Investment in the commercial component led the way, with a 6.3-per-cent increase to $5.9 billion.
Investment in the institutional component rose 2.4 per cent to $2.6 billion, while investment in the industrial component increased 4.3 per cent to $1.5 billion, the data showed.
Provincially, the biggest second-quarter increase occurred in Alberta, where investment rose 11.1 per cent to $2.3 billion, the 16th consecutive quarterly gain. Ontario was a distant second, with investment increasing 4.1 per cent to $3.6 billion. In both provinces, investment rose in all three components, Statistics Canada said.
“Western Canada’s dynamic economy continued to spark the non-residential sector,” the report says.
“Other contributing factors included a strong labour market, high profits recorded by Canadian corporations, strong consumer demand for durable goods and declining vacancy rates in large urban centres.”
Eighteen of 34 census metropolitan areas recorded gains, the agency said, with the strongest in Calgary where investment rose 17.2 per cent to $1.1 billion.
In B.C., Vancouver and Kelowna both experienced a 6.5-per-cent rise in the value of developments between the first and second quarters of 2007, while investment fell 15.5 per cent in Abbotsford and 2.6 per cent in Victoria.
© The Vancouver Province 2007