Canadian home building is near record activity, but it appears it’s hard to keep finding new money. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows investment in building construction fell in August. The decline marked the fourth consecutive month, and it was due entirely to housing. Residential building construction investment dropped so fast, it’s now technically a correction.

Canadian building construction edged lower once again. Seasonally adjusted building construction investment fell to $17.7 billion in August. This is down 2.0% compared to a month before, a substantial single-month drop. Stat Can estimates this is $12.7 billion when adjusted for inflation, with a 2.6% decline over the same period. A lot in that paragraph, but it’s hard not to focus on how large the inflation adjustment was. It trimmed nearly a third.

Building construction has been following this trend since peaking in April. August marked the fourth consecutive month to see seasonally adjusted volumes fall. From the peak in April to the number reported in August, monthly dollar volumes are 10.5% lower. That technically makes this a correction, driven entirely by a slowdown in housing.

Residential building construction, aka housing construction, was overrepresented in the cooldown. Actually, it was the whole cooldown. Seasonally adjusted residential building construction fell to $13.0 billion in August. This is 2.9% lower than the month before, with declines in every province but Nova Scotia. In case you missed it, that’s where everyone fleeing Ontario is heading these days.

Representing the lion’s share of total building construction, it also peaked in April. As one would expect, this segment reported four consecutive declines as well. 

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