Ontario Construction News staff writer
Investments in Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) construction have declined 4.5% in the first two months of 2022, compared to the same time in 2021, says Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) research director Katherine Jacobs, citing Statistics Canada.
Overall, StatsCan reports that Ontario ICI investment has amounted to $2.91 billion in January and February.
More specifically, industrial investment fell by 4.4% year-over-year, while commercial sector investment was down by 7.1%ย However, institutional investment increased by 3.4%.
โOntarioโs ICI investment fell slightly every month between September 2021 and February 2022, although total drop-off between these months only amounted to 5.2%. Februaryโs ICI investment total in Ontario amounted to $1.44 billion, Jacobs wrote on April 19. โThis was the lowest monthly ICI total in Ontario in the past 10 months.
โInstitutional investment in Ontario also fell in consecutive months since September, although the magnitude has been greater than in ICI overall (down -21.2% between September and February), she wrote.
โWhile investment in the commercial sector was down year-to-date in 2022, commercial investment has been stable in recent months, with the February total in line with the average of the past 11 months. Industrial investment in Ontario has been incredibly stable of late, with monthly investment totals not fluctuating up or down by more than 1.6% in the past six months.โ
