Industry Statistics - Canadian Construction Association

PREPARED BY THE CANADIAN CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION AND THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR COUNCIL

--> December 2007 Forecast in PDF

Disclaimer: The following forecast data has been produced by the Construction Sector Council (CSC) and provided to the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) for informational use only without warranty, express or implied. Any significant changes in economic conditions as a result of unforeseen world events and provincial policy changes, as well as unforeseen projects in the public and private sector will alter the outlook.

Note that all economic and labour market forecast information can now be accessed at www.constructionforecasts.ca, an interactive website allowing users to tailor requests based on sector, region, and timeframe.

Economic Performance

The construction outlook released by the Construction Sector Council as of spring 2007 suggests that 2008 will be very much like 2007. The current forecast calls for real investment in construction to increase by 3.5% in 2007 and 3.1% in 2008. However, starting in 2009, the pace of activity will level off, with investment projected to increase by 1.7% in 2009 before declining by 0.1% in 2010 and 0.9% in 2011. See the summary under Table 1, and constant dollar investment values in Appendix 1.

The main driver of industry growth over the next few years will remain the non-residential sector. In 2007, data suggest that the non-residential sector, including the building sector and engineering construction, will grow by 7.9%, and an additional 5% in 2008. Activity will moderate somewhat in 2009 with growth of 3.1%, then fall off with an expected contraction of 0.5% in 2010 and a further contraction of 1.4% in 2011.

The outlook suggests that the residential sector will slowdown into the foreseeable future. Following an expected contraction in residential construction of 2.4% in 2007, the residential market is expected to post a small gain of 0.3% in 2008, followed by a contraction of 0.4% in 2009, and an almost fixed growth of 0.3% in 2010 and 0% growth in 2011.

Within the non-residential construction industry, engineering construction will continue to post the strongest gains. In 2007, engineering construction is expected to grow by 9.7%, followed by 5.7% in 2008 and 3.7% in 2009. Industrial construction will remain on a blistering pace – the sector is expected to grow by 9.7% in 2007, 9.4% in 2008, but is expected to cool in 2009 to only 1.5% growth, followed by several years of contraction.