Residential Construction Investment

Residential Construction Investment
Summary of changes
Other reference periods
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Detailed information for third quarter 2017

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

Quarterly

Record number:

5016

Residential Construction Investment represents the spending value for individuals, enterprises and governments in the construction of new residential dwellings, renovation work and the acquisition costs pertaining to new units built.

Data release - December 4, 2017

Description

The residential construction investment includes three components.

The first is investment in new housing construction (record number 5155) which includes the investment associated to single dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, row housing, apartments, cottages, mobile homes and additional housing units created from non-residential buildings or other types of residential structures (conversions).

The second component is investment in renovations given improvements, alterations and modifications to existing dwellings.

The third component is acquisition costs, which refers to the value of services relating to the acquisition of new dwellings. These costs include sales taxes, land development and service charges, as well as record-processing fees for mortgage insurance and the associated premiums.

The statistics are used by both internal and external clients such as the Canadian System of National Accounts, provincial governments, Conference Board and a wide range of economists and analysts from the public and private sectors.

Estimates of the value of residential construction investment are also used to derive the annual value of the Stock of Fixed Residential Capital (record number 5169).

Reference period: Quarter

Subjects

  • Construction
  • Economic accounts
  • Residential construction

Data sources and methodology

Target population

All investment for residential buildings (single, doubles, rows and apartments) as well as all renovations made on existing residential buildings in the Canadian economy.

Instrument design

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Sampling

This methodology does not apply.

Data sources

Data are extracted from administrative files and derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

Data are derived from other Statistics Canada surveys and other sources.

Error detection

Most reporting and data entry errors are corrected through computerized input and complex data review procedures. Strict quality control procedures are applied to ensure that collection, coding and data processing are as accurate as possible. Checks are also performed on totals and the magnitude of data.

Imputation

This methodology does not apply.

Estimation

Investment is calculated by associating to the number of housing starts from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) a provincial average value from the Building Permit Survey. Work put in place patterns are assigned to each province and each type of dwelling, in order to spread the value of housing starts over the construction period.

Investment will be a function of the work done on units started in a quarter, in addition to the work done on all the other housing starts within previous quarters for which the construction would not be completed.

The value of building permits excludes the cost of land but may include some acquisition costs. This value is adjusted to account for the fact that building permits usually underestimate the final value of the dwelling.

Quality evaluation

In order to ensure their quality, the estimates are compared with data and trends from building permits, housing starts and completions from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and various other sources. Moreover, these estimates are analyzed for time series consistency and confronted to current economic events.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Estimates are revised when those for subsequent quarters of the same year are published. At the time of the third quarter of each year, revisions are generally undertaken back three years.

Data may be revised to include amended information or reports from respondents that are received after the end of a collection cycle. Revisions are disseminated in subsequent periods and reflected in the CANSIM series.

Data are not seasonally adjusted.

Data accuracy

No direct measure of the margin of error in the estimates can be calculated. The quality of the estimates can be inferred from analysis of revisions and from an assessment of the data sources and methodology used in preparation of the estimates.

Documentation

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