Highlights from ‘Building Construction, 2024’ and ‘Housing Starts, August 2024’
The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on September 18 2024.
For full details from ‘Building Construction, July 2024,’ please click here.
For full details from ‘Housing Starts, August 2024,’ please click here.
Building Construction, July 2024
Monthly (July 2024 vs June 2024, seasonally adjusted)
- Investment in Nova Scotia building construction fell 1.2% in July 2024 to $563.2 million
- Halifax monthly building construction grew 1.0% to $289.2 million
- Outside of Halifax building construction was down 3.4% to $274.0 million
- Nova Scotia’s non-residential building construction grew 2.8% to $106.0 million
- In Halifax, non-residential construction was up 7.8% to $62.9 million
- Outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was down 3.7% to $43.1 million
Year-to-date (January-July 2024 vs January-July 2023)
- Compared to January-July 2023, building construction investment was up 22.9% in Nova Scotia
- Halifax construction activity was up 30.5%
- Outside of Halifax construction activity was up 15.5%
- Nova Scotia’s non-residential construction was up 36.5% compared to January-July 2023
- Halifax’s non-residential construction rose 22.5% while outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 61.6%
- National non-residential construction investment increased 5.4% compared to January-July 2023
- Eight provinces reported increases, with the largest increase in Nova Scotia.
Trends
- Residential investment (and therefore total investment) exhibits peaks and troughs around a rising trend
- Non-residential investment has been on a more gradual increasing trend, primarily from investments in Halifax
- Commercial construction has shown some limited growth in recent months
- Government/institutional construction has been increasing since mid-202
- Industrial investment has recently plateaued
Housing Starts, August 2024
Monthly (August 2024 vs July 2024, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
- Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 4,105 units in August 2024
- This was a 37.3% decrease from the previous month’s revised value of 6,543
- Housing starts in Halifax slowed to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,720 units in August 2024, down 26.5% in July 2024
- Outside of Halifax, housing starts decreased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,385 units in August 2024, down 51.2% in July 2024
Year-over-year (August 2024 vs August 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
- Nova Scotia’s housing starts were up 28.1% compared with August 2023
- Halifax housing starts were 84.4% above their level from August 2023
- Housing starts outside the city were down 19.9% year-over-year
Year-to-date (January-August 2024 vs January-August 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
- Over the first eight months of 2024, Nova Scotia’s housing starts were up 46.8% compared with the same period in 2023
- Halifax starts were up 83.9% while starts outside the city decreased by 3.9%