News
Construction activity slides

April 2, 2009 – In ‘The Daily’ of March 31st 2009, Statistics Canada’s
reported on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by industry. The news was not
uplifting for the construction sector. 

Statscan
reported that construction activity was down 3.0% in January 2009,
measured as seasonally adjusted monthly change. Residential and non-residential
building construction as well as engineering and repair work decreased. There
was a sharp decline in residential building construction (-6.4%), particularly
in the construction of new dwellings. Commercial and industrial building
construction also contracted, while that of institutional buildings edged up.

The output of real
estate agents and brokers continued to decline in January (-2.6%) as housing
sales decreased again. This also affected professional services associated with
housing sales, particularly legal services.