OTTAWA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Canada's total value of investment in building construction grew 9.3 percent to 53.1 billion Canadian dollars in the first quarter of 2021, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Statistics Canada attributed the growth to continued strength in the residential sector, which soared 12.4 percent.
Investment for residential buildings hit 39.5 billion Canadian dollars because of increased spending on single units in the first quarter while non-residential investment rose 1.1 percent to 13.6 billion, following a 6 percent decline in the previous quarter.
At the same time, institutional construction rose 3 percent in the first quarter.
Investment in commercial construction advanced slightly compared with the fourth quarter of 2020. However, investment in this component was below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, down 13.8 percent compared with the first quarter of 2020.
The country's total investment in building construction rose 5.9 percent to 18.6 billion Canadian dollars in March.
Residential construction investment increased for the eleventh consecutive month, up 7.6 percent to 14 billion Canadian dollars in March. Investment in single units jumped 10.7 percent to 7.8 billion Canadian dollars.
Growth in multi-unit construction also continued, up 3.9 percent to 6.2 billion Canadian dollars.
Meanwhile, non-residential construction investment rose 1.1 percent to 4.6 billion Canadian dollars in March, with all components posting slight increases.
Despite the rise, the commercial and industrial investment components were still below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Institutional construction investment was up 2.2 percent to 1.2 billion Canadian dollars in March while commercial building construction rose 0.8 percent to 2.6 billion Canadian dollars and investment in industrial construction was up 0.4 percent to 823 million Canadian dollars. Enditem