Industry highlights from Building Construction, May 2024

The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on July 18, 2024. For full details from this dataset, please click here.

Monthly (May 2024 vs April 2024, seasonally adjusted)

  • Investment in Nova Scotia building construction declined 2.2% in May 2024 to $568.3 million
  • Halifax monthly building construction fell 4.3% to $302.4 million
  • Outside of Halifax building construction was up 0.3% to $265.9 million

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building construction grew 4.0% to $98.6 million
  • In Halifax, non-residential construction was up 5.9% to $56.9 million
  • Outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 1.5% to $41.7 million
Year-to-date (January-May 2024 vs January-May 2023)

  • Compared to January-May 2023, building construction investment was up 20.6% in Nova Scotia
  • Halifax construction activity was up 29.9% and outside of Halifax construction activity was up 11.6%

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential construction was up 37.7% compared to January-May 2023
  • Halifax’s non-residential construction rose 22.6% while outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 65.4%
  • Seven provinces reported increases, with the largest increase in Nova Scotia
  • Non-residential building construction investment was up in all categories of non-residential construction across the province: commercial, industrial, and institutional/government
Trends
  • Building construction has trended up over recent years, particularly from rising residential investment
  • Non-residential investment has been on a more gradual increasing trend, primarily from investments in Halifax
  • Commercial construction has declined in recent months
  • Industrial and government/institutional construction have been increasing in Halifax
  • In recent months, there has been growth in commercial, industrial, and government/institutional building construction outside the city