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March 01, 2022NON-RESIDENTIAL FIXED CAPITAL INVESTMENT, Q4 AND ANNUAL 2021 With Q4 reference results, year-over-year (Q4 2021 vs Q4 2020) and annual (2021 vs 2020) comparisons are in part showing the rebounds in economic activity from the unprecedented declines observed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
Nova Scotia non-residential investment has trended upwards since Q1 2013, rising from $1,201 million in Q1 2013 to $1,631 million in Q1 2020. Non-residential investment declined in Q2 2020 but increased to $1,722 million in Q4 2020.
In Q4 2021, investment in Nova Scotia's fixed capital rose 2.2% from the previous quarter to $1,814 million. Business sector non-residential investment trended downward over 2016 to 2020, before modest growth in 2021. Government and non-profit institution serving households was mostly flat from 2013 through 2017 but has been growing since 2018 through Q4 2021.
Within the business sector, machinery and equipment account for the largest share of fixed capital investments. Compared to Q4 2020, business sector investment increased 6.8% with increases in non-residential buildings (+15.7%) and engineering construction (+28.3%). Machinery and equipment (-0.3%) and intellectual property products (-1.4%) declined compared to Q4 2020.
Government investment in machinery and equipment rose through 2018 and remained at elevated levels averaging above $300 million per quarter from 2019 to 2021. Government and non-profit investment in machinery and equipment fell in Q4 2021 compared to the same period one year ago by 11.0%. Investment was higher for Q4 2021 than Q4 2020 for government and non-profit institutions in non-residential buildings (+23.7%) while declining in intellectual property products (-0.7%).
PROVINCES NON-RESIDENTIAL INVESTMENT: Q4 2021 vs Q4 2020
Nova Scotia non-residential investment (all sectors, all assets) increased 5.3% from Q4 2020 to Q4 2021. Non-residential investment increased in all provinces from the previous year in Q4 2021. Nationally non-residential investment was up 10.9% with Newfoundland and Labrador (+18.8%) posting the largest increase and Nova Scotia posting the smallest gain.
Business sector investment in Nova Scotia increased 6.8%. The business sector in Newfoundland and Labrador (+21.6%) reported the largest increase while the business sector in Nova Scotia reported the smallest increase.
Government and non-profit fixed capital investment increased in every province compared to Q4 2020. Alberta (+12.1%) posted the largest gain while Nova Scotia (+4.3%) reported the smallest increase.
Compared to Q4 2020, non-residential investment in buildings was up 20.7% in Nova Scotia, which was the strongest growth among provinces. National investment in non-residential building construction was up 18.5% with the slowest increase in Prince Edward Island (+17.5%).
Engineering structure investment was up 16.5% in Nova Scotia. Investment in engineering structures was up 23.4% nationally with every province reporting year-over-year increases in Q4 2021. Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia reported the strongest growth while Prince Edward Island (+16.4%) had the smallest increase.
Machinery and equipment investment decreased 0.9% in Canada with all provinces except Prince Edward Island declining. Machinery and equipment investment fell 5.9% year-over-year in Nova Scotia.
Intellectual property products decreased 0.4% in Nova Scotia over Q4 2020. Intellectual property investment was up 0.2% in Canada led by growth in four provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
ANNUAL (2021 vs 2020)
All provinces reported increases in non-residential investment in 2021. Nova Scotia reported the smallest increase at 5.6%, but did have the fastest growth in 2020. Newfoundland and Labrador had the largest increase in 2021 at 9.1%.
Business sector non-residential investment increased in all provinces with Nova Scotia rising 4.9% while national growth was 6.0%.
Government and non-profit investment was up in all provinces in 2021. Nova Scotia reported the smallest growth at 6.2% while Alberta (+11.3%) reported the largest growth.
Non-residential building construction investment increased the most in Nova Scotia (+12.1%) and the least in Prince Edward Island (+8.4%) in 2021.
Engineering construction was up a similar amount in all provinces in 2021.
Nova Scotia (+0.9%) reported slower growth in machinery and equipment investment than all other provinces in 2021. The fastest growth was in Prince Edward Island (6.9%).
Nova Scotia intellectual property products grew 1.0% in 2021, below the national average of 1.9%. Intellectual property products growth was led by Newfoundland and Labrador (+9.3%).
NOVA SCOTIA (2021 vs 2020)
Non-residential investment in Nova Scotia increased 5.6% in 2021 compared to 2020. Business sector investment was up 4.9% (+136 million) and the government and non-profit institution sector was up 6.2% (+227 million). Business sector investment rose in all categories: buildings (+5.5%), engineering construction (9.7%), machinery and equipment (+4.4%) and intellectual property products (+1.7%). For the government and non-profit sector, investment was higher for buildings (+17.2%), engineering (+12.7%) and declined in machinery and equipment (-2.3%) and intellectual property products (-0.2%).
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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