Quiet on the Building Front

One of the key factors in generating economic growth or expansion is investment. When money flows into projects – whether public or private – things happen.

But an economy must have the capacity to support capital inflows. It must hold the promise of a return that is better than other places to attract capital. And when you see a slowdown it generally means you’re place is not as inviting as somewhere else.

One of the best measures of how you’re doing on this front is capital investment in building. Generally, building is a by-product: a strong economy requires people and services which need houses and buildings to operate in.

We now have last year’s figures for construction and Saskatchewan was hurting on this measure. We were down about 50-percent from the previous year with a 51-percent reduction in residential building alongside a 51-percent pullback in non-residential or commercial activity.

On the local level, Regina saw a 52-percent decline while in Saskatoon it was 47-percent, a sign of the trickle-down effect of tough markets for oil, potash and canola.

Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200210/t002a-eng.htm