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February 29, 2024NON-RESIDENTIAL FIXED CAPITAL INVESTMENT, Q4 AND ANNUAL 2023 Non-residential fixed capital investment consists of expenditures made by business, governments and non-profit institutions serving households that add to the capital stock for production of goods and services in an economy. Investment that are included are buildings, engineering construction (i.e. bridge, mine structure), machinery and equipment, and intellectual property products (i.e. software, mineral exploration) but it doesn’t include non-reproducible assets (lands, mineral deposits, natural resources) or housing investment. Statistics Canada has begun to release quarterly data on non-residential fixed capital investment and stock for the provinces with historical data back to 2013. Note, the data is not seasonally adjusted and expressed in current prices.
Year-over-year (Q4 2023 vs Q4 2022)
Nova Scotia non-residential investment (all sectors, all assets, current prices) increased 16.3% from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023, which was a faster pace than other provinces. Nationally non-residential investment was up 2.3% with Nova Scotia posting the largest increase. The only decline was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Business sector investment in Nova Scotia increased 0.9%, which was faster than the national pace of 0.5%. Ontario recorded the fastest growth while Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the largest decline.
Government fixed capital investment increased 31.5% in Nova Scotia from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023, the largest gain among the provinces. Across Canada, government investment (which includes all orders of government) was up 7.3% with the second fastest gain in British Columbia.
Nova Scotia non-residential building investment was up 5.8% compared to Q4 2022. Nationally, non-residential building investment was up 4.2% with fastest growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and slowest in Prince Edward Island.
Engineering construction investment was up 1.5% in Nova Scotia and 0.1% in Canada with six provinces reporting growth. Growth was fastest in Prince Edward Island while the largest declines were in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.
Machinery and equipment investment was up 36.1% in Nova Scotia, faster than the other provinces. Nationally, machinery and equipment was up 1.6% with the fastest growth in Nova Scotia while the largest decline was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Intellectual property investment was up 7.0% in Nova Scotia compared to Q4 2022. The fastest growth was in Prince Edward Island. The only decline was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nova Scotia's investments in fixed non-residential capital were larger in government investment ($1,291 million) than business investment ($984 million). Machinery and equipment made up the largest asset category of investment ($1,006 million), followed by engineering construction ($525 million).
Machinery and equipment growth was stronger in the quarter while engineering construction was slowest. Government sector investment grew 31.5% compared to Q4 2022 and business sector investment grew 0.9%.
Annual (2023 vs 2022)
In 2023, Nova Scotia's non-residential investment is up 12.7%, faster than other provinces. Nationally, non-residential investment increased 6.0%.
Non-residential building investment is up 3.9% in Nova Scotia and 4.1% in Canada in 2023. All provinces reported similar growth within the range of 3.8 % to 4.3%.
Engineering construction is up in all provinces with the fastest growth in the Maritimes and slowest in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.
Machinery and equipment investment is up 20.0% in Nova Scotia, the fastest growth among provinces. Nationally, machinery and equipment investment rose 2.1% in 2023.
Intellectual property investment increased 6.6% in Nova Scoti and 5.8% in Canada from 2022. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest growth and Newfoundland and Labrador reported the only decline.
Business investment is up 4.3% in Nova Scotia in 2023, slower than 4.8% in Canada. Alberta reported the strongest growth and Newfoundland and Labrador the weakest.
Government investment, all levels, in Nova Scotia was up 21.4% in 2023, faster than other provinces. Canada government investment, all levels, was up 9.4%. The weakest growth was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Canada non-profit institution serving households was up 5.0%, with the fastest growth in Newfoundland and Labrador. The weakest growth was in Saskatchewan.
In 2023, government investment ($4,474 million) has been larger than business ($3,975 million). Machinery and equipment investment has led investment categories with non-residential buildings seeing the smallest investment.
In 2023, machinery and equipment and engineering construction have been the fastest growing investments. Government sector investment (+21.4%) rose faster than Business sector (+4.3%).
Trends
Nova Scotia's non-residential investment has generally trended up on a year-over-year basis, with the notable exception of 2020.
Business sector non-residential investment trended downward over 2016 to 2020, before trending upwards over 2021-2023 Q4.
Government sector was mostly flat from 2014 through 2017, then trended upwards from 2017 to 2023. Non-profit institution serving households was mostly flat from 2016 through 2023.
Nova Scotia's investments in non-residential buildings declined from 2013 to 2016 and rose from 2016 to 2020. After a dip in 2020, Nova Scotia's investment in non-residential buildings recovered to its rising trend in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Nova Scotia's investments in engineering construction assets have trended up since 2018.
Nova Scotia's investments in machinery and equipment assets have been on a declining trend from 2019 through 2022, but trended upward in 2023.
Nova Scotia's investments in intellectual property products has mostly trended up since 2013 with occasional spikes associated with specific offshore exploration projects.
Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0163-01 Flows and stocks of fixed non-residential and residential capital, by sector and asset, provincial and territorial (x 1,000,000)
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