Canadian residential construction investment totaled C$35.8 billion (US$28.2 billion) in the third quarter, up 9.1 percent compared with the same period in 2016 and the largest increase since the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Statistics Canada.

For the first time in five years, residential construction investment rose on a year-over-year basis in every province. Ontario, Quebec and Alberta posted the highest increases in the third quarter.

All components contributed to the year-over-year increase, led by spending on renovation, up 8.1 percent to C$15.5 billion (US$12.2 billion), followed by construction of single-family homes, up 11.0 percent to C$8.4 billion (US$6.6 billion).

Spending on renovation was up in every province for the first time since second quarter of 2006 and was the main driver for the increases in both Ontario (+C$614.6 million, US$484.3 million) and Quebec (+C$224.8 million, US$117.1 million).

Renovations drove the increases in every province except Alberta and Prince Edward Island, where spending was led by investment in new single houses. The C$495.2 million (US$390.2 million) increase in Alberta was mainly due to single-home construction (+C$396.8 million, US$312.7 million), which accounted for 80.1 percent of the total year-over-year increase in the province.

At the national level, investment in row house construction reached a record high of C$1.6 billion (US$1.3 billion). In the third quarter, row houses represented over half of the total year-over-year increase for multi-unit building construction, despite accounting for just over one-fifth of total spending for multi-unit buildings.