Construction boom expected to slow

The Canadian Construction Association and the Construction Sector Council are predicting that 2008 will be a year of strong growth in the construction industry, but slightly less so than 2007.
According to their forecast, investment in construction in Canada will see an overall growth of 3.1 per cent in 2008, compared to 3.5 per cent overall growth in 2007.
However, the investment in the non-residential construction market vs. the residential market is expected to be much more robust. According to the CCA/CSC forecast: “The main driver of industry growth over the next few years will remain the non-residential sector.” Their data suggest that building and engineering construction in the non-residential sector will grow by 5% in 2008. This is lower, however, than growth in 2007, which was 7.9%).
It looks as though the crazy boom years will come to an end by 2010. The report predicts that in 2009, non-residential building and engineering activity will “moderate somewhat” with growth of 3.1%. In 2010, construction investment will “fall off,” contracting by 0.5% in 2010 and 1.4% in 2011.
Industrial construction is set to remain on a “blistering pace” in 2008 with growth predicted of 9.4% (9.7% in 2007). However, this sector too is expected to cool in 2009, with a predicted 1.5% growth, followed by years of contraction.
The residential sector is expected to be stagnant into the foreseeable future. It will have “almost fixed growth” of 0.3% in 2010 and 0% growth in 2011.
The data is prepared by the Construction Sector Council as part of its 2007 labour market information program.
A summary of the national forecast report can be found at http://www.cca-acc.com/factsheet/factsheet.html.