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July 31, 2023BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PRICE INDEX, Q2 2023 Halifax's residential building construction prices increased by 7.9% from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023. Building costs for single detached (+9.2%) and low-rise apartment (+9.4%) buildings (under 5 stories) were up by the largest percentages. Building costs for townhouse units were up by 8.9% while high-rise apartment building costs were up by 5.7%.
For each type of residential unit, the increase in Halifax's building costs was above the national average for similar structures except for high-rise apartment structures. For all types of buildings, cost growth was notably faster in Toronto. Edmonton reported the slowest growth in building costs for all categories except high-rise apartment buildings, for which Saskatoon reported minimum growth of 4.9%.
Halifax's residential building cost inflation peaked at 19.1% from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022. In the subsequent quarters, the pace of inflation slowed, but not to the modest pace of price growth observed before the pandemic. Construction cost inflation for all types of residential projects peaked in Q1 2022 and have subsequently decelerated. In Q2 2023 construction costs have accelerated for all types of building structures except high-rise apartments.
Non-residential building cost inflation is generally slower than residential building cost inflation. Overall non-residential building costs were up 5.9% in Halifax from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023. The pace of building cost inflation was slower for shopping centres (+5.0%), schools (+4.9%), and office buildings (+5.3%). There was faster growth for warehouse structures (+7.3%), factory buildings (+8.0%), and bus depot and repair centers (+9.1%).
Across the 11 major Census Metropolitan Areas, non-residential building construction costs grew at a faster pace than in Halifax since Q2 2022. Moncton, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver reported the fastest year-over-year growth in non-residential building construction. Saskatoon reported the slowest paces of growth across all categories except warehouses.
As with residential building costs, Halifax's non-residential building construction cost growth peaked in Q1 2022 and subsequently decelerated. This is the case across all categories of non-residential construction projects. In Q2 2023 deceleration continued across all categories of structures except factories and office buildings.
Among components of building costs, residential construction inflation is up most (>10%) for: thermal/moisture protection, wood/plastics/composites, fabricated metal, structural steel framing, and masonry. Non-residential building construction costs grew most rapidly for: masonry, structural steel framing, finishes, and electrical safety/security.
Statistics Canada Notes on the Building Construction Price Index: The building construction price indexes are quarterly series that measure the change over time in the prices that contractors charge to construct a range of commercial, institutional, industrial and residential buildings in 11 census metropolitan areas: St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Montréal, Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario part), Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
These buildings include six non-residential structures: an office building, a warehouse, a shopping centre, a factory, a school, and a bus depot with maintenance and repair facilities. In addition, indexes are produced for five residential structures: a bungalow, a two-storey house, a townhouse, a high-rise apartment building (five storeys or more) and a low-rise apartment building (fewer than five storeys).
The contractor's price reflects the value of all materials, labour, equipment, overhead and profit to construct a new building. It excludes value-added taxes and any costs for land, land assembly, building design, land development and real estate fees.
With each release, data for the previous quarter may have been revised. The index is not seasonally adjusted.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0135-01 Building construction price indexes, by type of building
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