ICIC Construction Quarterly Economic Insights, Summer 2025
This report was prepared by the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) to provide an overview of the last quarter, the current economic health of the industry, and implications for member businesses.
Key takeaways
- Construction holding steady: Industry output rose 0.22 per cent. While that’s more modest than the broader economy, it’s a stable gain for a sector that lacks export and inventory-driven spikes and absorbed higher imports.
- Building material inflation cooling – at factory gate: Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) inflation slowed to 1.17 per cent YOY in May due to a stronger Canadian dollar in April and May. Steel prices have climbed 3.38 per cent since February and cement costs are ticking up as well. This price measure captures factory-gate prices, before taxes and tariffs are added, so duties affect it only indirectly.
- Record federal build-out: The federal government’s four-year, $50 billion construction plan from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s platform places the industry in its most constructive (literally and figuratively) policy position since the post-war highway boom. Excluding the prefab-heavy Build Canada Homes (BCH) program and $1.78 billion boost to the defence budget, fiscal spending could lift the construction sector’s GDP share by roughly five per cent—if procurement, permitting, and workforce capacity can keep pace with these deeper pockets.