Permits record intentions. Investment records money actually spent. The split between housing and everything else is the clearest single picture of what Canada is building.
Headline figure
$16.2B / $7.1B
Residential against non-residential investment in building construction, Canada, May 2026 — out of a $23.4 billion total. From Statistics Canada, Investment in building construction, May 2026, released 20 July 2026 (Table 34-10-0293-01).
What the data says
Statistics Canada measures investment in building construction monthly from Table 34-10-0293-01. Unlike permits, this series is money committed to work in progress, so it is the closer proxy for how busy the industry actually is.
| Sector or component | Value | Change on the month |
|---|---|---|
| Total | $23.4B | −0.3% |
| Residential | $16.2B | −0.5% |
| — Multi-unit | $8.8B | +0.7% |
| — Single-family | $7.4B | −1.9% |
| Non-residential | $7.1B | +0.2% |
| — Commercial | $3.5B | −0.2% |
| — Industrial | $1.5B | +1.8% |
| — Institutional | not stated | −0.1% |
Source: Statistics Canada, Investment in building construction, May 2026, released 20 July 2026, Table 34-10-0293-01. The institutional dollar value is not stated separately in the release text, so only its percentage change is shown rather than an estimated figure.
The same release reports that “On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), the total value … declined 0.4% … to $21.3 billion in May, but it was up 3.1% year over year”. The gap between the current-dollar total ($23.4 billion) and the constant-dollar total ($21.3 billion) is price, not activity — which is why the two series should never be quoted interchangeably. The building construction price index tracks that price effect directly.
The March 2026 edition of the same series, released 25 May 2026, reported that investment “decreased $304.6 million (-1.3%) to $22.6 billion in March”, with residential at $15.5 billion and non-residential at $7.0 billion. Multi-unit at $8.4 billion was then in its “third consecutive monthly decrease”. Two months apart, the residential total moved from $15.5 billion to $16.2 billion.
Do not carry a figure forward. Each month’s release supersedes and revises the last; quoting a May number as though it were current months later is the most common way this series gets misused.
The two sectors buy different things. Residential work at $16.2 billion a month is dominated by multi-unit at $8.8 billion — longer projects, more subcontractor tiers, and holdback and lien exposure that runs for years rather than months. Non-residential at $7.1 billion is where the industrial component, up 1.8% on the month, is currently growing fastest.
A firm reading this to decide where to bid should also look at building permit values by province, which shows which provinces are approving the work, and at Canada’s condominium stock for the demand pressure behind the multi-unit numbers.
A 30-minute call is enough to tell you where AI pays for itself in a construction or property business.
