Building construction, April 2024

The following was shared by the Economics and Statistics Division on June 17, 2024. For more insights from this dataset, click here.

Monthly (April 2024 vs March 2024, seasonally adjusted)

  • Investment in Nova Scotia building construction increased 1.5% in April 2024 to $575.8 million
  • Halifax monthly building construction fell 2.4% to $314.4 million
  • Outside of Halifax building construction was up 6.7% to $261.4 million

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building construction declines 0.7% to $94.3 million
  • In Halifax, non-residential construction was virtually unchanged (+0.03%), up to $53.29 million
  • Outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was down 1.5% to $41.0 million
Year-to-date (January-April 2024 vs January-April 2023)

  • Compared to January-April 2023, building construction investment was up 19.4% in Nova Scotia
  • Halifax construction activity was up 29.5% and outside of Halifax construction activity was up 9.8%
  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential construction was up 37.5% compared to January-April 2023
  • Halifax’s non-residential construction rose 22.4% while outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 65.3%
  • Nova Scotia’s total building construction investment increased from $1.77 billion in January-April 2023 to $2.11 billion in January-April 2024.

Housing starts, May 2024

The following was shared by the Economics and Statistics Division on June 18, 2024. For more insights from this dataset, click here.

Monthly (May 2024 vs April 2024, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)

  • Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 8,716 units in May 2024
    • This was a 10.5% increase from the previous month
  • Housing starts in Halifax increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6,375 units in May 2024, up 7.7% from 5,919 units in April 2024.
  • Outside of Halifax, housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,341 units in May 2024, up 19.0% from 1,968 units in April 2024.
Year-over-year (May 2024 vs May 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)

  • Nova Scotia’s housing starts were up 55.7% compared with May 2023
  • Halifax housing starts were 207.2% above their level from May 2023
  • Housing starts outside the city were down 33.6% year-over-year
  • In unadjusted results for Halifax in May 2024, there were 526 housing starts and 75 completions
    • With starts outpacing completions again, the stock of units under construction rose to 10,778 units in Halifax, up 60.4% from the same month last year