The shutdowns induced by COVID-19 caused investment in Canada’s construction sector to decline by 3.6pc to $11.3bn in March from the previous month, according to a Statistics Canada report.
Total investment in residential construction declined by 3.3pc month-over-month to $7.8bn in March. Multi-unit residential homes saw investment fall by 6.9pc to $3.8b, but single-unit dwellings increased, albeit marginally, by 0.6pc to $3.9bn.
Total investment in non-residential building decreased by 4.3pc to $3.6bn in March from February. Commercial construction investment decreased by 4.2pc to $2.1bn, while investment in institutional development fell by 4.2pc to $814mn. Industrial construction investment dropped a 5pc fall to $6.5bn.
Although total investment in Canadian construction rose by 1pc in Q1 2020 from the previous quarter, residential investment increased by only 0.8pc to $24bn, while non-residential investment moved up by 1.2pc to $11bn in the first quarter of the year from Q4 2019.