Investment in New Housing Construction

Detailed information for July 2011

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

Monthly

Record number:

5155

The monthly investment in new housing construction represents the spending value for individuals, enterprises and governments in the construction of new residential dwellings during the reference period. The four dwelling types covered by this monthly release are the singles, doubles, rows and apartments.

Data release - September 21, 2011

Description

The monthly investment in new housing construction measures the spending value for individuals, enterprises and governments in the construction of new residential dwellings during the reference period. The four dwelling types covered by this monthly release are singles, doubles, rows and apartments.

Building permits data are used to associate an average value for each dwelling type in every province to the number of housing starts from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Work-put-in-place coefficients spread the value assigned to housing starts over the construction period.

The statistics are used by both internal and external clients, including the Canadian System of National Accounts, the Bank of Canada and Finance Canada, as well as economists and analysts from the public and private sector.

Subjects

  • Construction
  • Residential construction

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population consists of new investment for the four principal dwelling types (singles, doubles, rows and apartments) as defined by 2006 Census.

Instrument design

This methodology does not apply.

Sampling

This methodology does not apply.

Data sources

Data are collected from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

The monthly investment in new housing construction is based on Statistics Canada Monthly Building Permits Survey completed by Canadian municipalities (survey record 2802) and CMHC's Starts and Completions Survey.

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

The monthly investment in new housing construction is calculated by associating an average value,derived from the Building Permits Survey - for each dwelling type and each province, to the number of housing starts from CMHC. Coefficients are used to spread the value assigned to housing starts over the construction period.

The investment for a given month will be a function of the work done on units started in that month, in addition to the work done on all the other housing starts from preceding months for which the construction would not be completed.

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 that 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.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Estimates are periodically revised to take into account new information from building permits and CMHC. Data for the previous month are subject to revision with the release of the current reference month. Also, with the release of a reference month ending a quarter (i.e. March, June, September or December), revisions can be made on data for the three previous months.

With the March data release, monthly investment estimates are revised for the previous year to take into account the annual revision to the unadjusted data from building permits.

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 when preparing the estimates.

Documentation

Date modified: