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August 29, 2025NON-RESIDENTIAL CAPITAL STOCK AND INVESTMENT, Q2 2025 Year-over-year (Q1 2025 vs Q2 2024)
Nova Scotia non-residential investment (all sectors, all assets, current prices) rose by 8.1% from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025, leading all provinces in investment growth following a 9.1% year-over-year decline in the previous quarter. Nationally non-residential investment was up 2.4% with gains in all provinces. The slowest growth in investment was reported in Manitoba.
Nova Scotia's non-residential investment growth outperformed the national average for all asset types (buildings, engineering construction, machinery/equipment and intellectual property). Government sector capital investment in Nova Scotia was up 17.0% - the fastest year-over-year growth among provinces. However, Nova Scotia's business sector investment declined by 1.2% while national business sector investment was up 0.6% year-over-year in Q2.
On a per capita basis, Nova Scotia's investment in non-residential assets amounted to $2,148 or 76.6% of the national per capita value. Nova Scotia's per capita investments were notably stronger for both machinery/equipment and for the government sector. In particular, Nova Scotia's government sector machinery and equipment investments (which includes military hardware) were over 5 times the national per capita value.
Nova Scotia's per capita business investment was $957 per capita or 46.2% of the national per capita average. Business investment (notably for engineering/cconstruction works) was substantially higher in Newfoundland and Labrador as well as in the three westernmost provinces.
Nova Scotia's net capital stock (based on geometric depreciation) was $59,841 per capita as of Q2 2025. This was 69.3% of the national per capita capital stock. Capital stock per capita was notably higher for Canada's major natural resource regions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Nova Scotia's $28,586 capital stock per capita in the government sector (including military hardware) was substantially higher than the national average of $22,490 per capita.
Nova Scotia's business sector capital stock was $31,083 per capita - second lowest among provinces and 48.9% of the national average of $63,533 per capita.
In the last year, Nova Scotia's investment levels increased for all major asset categories as government investment growth offset declining business sector investment.
Net capital stock in Nova Scotia increased for all major asset types and for both business and government sectors. Government capital stock as well as machinery/equipment stock reported the fastest increases.
Year-to-date (Q1-Q2 2025 vs Q1-Q2 2025)
Comparing the first half of 2025 with the same period in 2024, Nova Scotia's non-residential capital investment was down 0.8% - the only province to report lower investment levels in the period. National investment levels were up 4.2% year-to-date with the strongest growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia.
Nova Scotia's year-to-date non-residential investment growth outpaced the national averages for buildings, engineering construction and intellectual property. However, these gains were more than offset by a substantial decline in machinery/equipment investment (primarily in the government sector).
Nova Scotia's year-to-date business investment was up 2.5% - lagging the national average gain of 3.4%.
Nova Scotia's investment in government sector assets was down 3.5% - the only decline among provinces - while national government sector investment was up 7.0%.
On a per capita basis, Nova Scotia's year-to-date non-residential investments were $4,088 or 75.3% of the national average. Although Nova Scotia had the highest per capita non-residential investments from the government sector ($2,180), it had the lowest levels of per capita non-residential investment from the business sector ($1,898).
Nova Scotia's year-to-date investments in machinery/equipment (including military hardware in the government sector) were $1,187 per capita, which third highest among provinces after Alberta and Saskatchewan. However, per capita investments in non-residential buildings ($732, second lowest among provinces), engineering construction ($805, second lowest among provinces) and intellectual property ($735. third lowest among provinces) were all well below national averages.
Nova Scotia's declining year-to-date non-residential investment reflects the sizable decline for machinery/equipment as well as government sector investments.
Trends
Nova Scotia's non-residential investment has generally trended up on a year-over-year basis (except 2020). Non-residential investment returned to growth after a year-over-year in decline in Q1 2025.
Business sector non-residential investment trended downward over 2016 to 2020, before trending upwards over 2021-2023. However, business sector investment has exhibited slower growth in 2024 and 2025.
Government sector was mostly flat from 2014 through 2017, then trended upwards from 2017 to 2023, followed by a notable acceleration in the second half of 2024. Results for government investment in Q2 2025 (typically a slower quarter of the year) were up from 2024 levesl for the same time period.
Non-profit institution serving households have much lower investments levels than business or government sectors.
Nova Scotia's investments in non-residential buildings declined from 2013 to 2017 and rose in 2018 and 2019. After a dip in 2020, Nova Scotia's investment in non-residential buildings recovered to its rising trend from 2021-2025.
Nova Scotia's investments in engineering construction assets trended up from 2018 to 2022, after which investment has grown at a slower pace.
Nova Scotia's investments in machinery and equipment assets were notably stronger over 2024-2025. The result in Q2 2025 reflect continued growth from higher levels established in 2024.
Nova Scotia's investments in intellectual property products have mostly trended up since 2013 with occasional spikes coinciding with specific offshore exploration projects (which are classified as intellectual property investments).
Nova Scotia's non-residential capital stock per capita has grown more quickly since 2020.
However, national non-residential capital stock per capita has grown more quickly. This is particularly the case for business sector non-residential assets per capita as well as for buildings, engineering construction and intellectual property.
In contrast, Nova Scotia's per capita stocks of government sector assets as well as machinery/equipment assets have grown faster than the national pace and are now higher than national averages.
Notes: 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. The data are not seasonally adjusted and expressed in current prices.
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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