Housing investment on P.E.I. peaks early in 2018

An early peak in housing investment on P.E.I. this year may be a sign the industry doesn't have much more capacity to grow.

Investment in new housing on P.E.I. fell off slightly in the summer months, after hitting a record value in June.

Statistics Canada released new housing construction investment figures Monday.

While investment was down, it was still well up over the summer of 2017. August investment was $21.7 million, up 22.8 per cent over 2017. Investment in apartments in particular, at $4.1 million, was up 171.4 per cent.

Since 2015 investment has been peaking at a later time in the year: in September in 2015 and 2016 and not until October last year.

Sam Sanderson, general manager of the Construction Association of P.E.I., said anyone looking to build right now is facing getting on a waiting list, and that may be having an impact on investment.

"Talking with builders, they're certainly building at their capacity right at the moment," said Sanderson.

"You would probably be looking at a waiting period, potentially, I'm hearing three to six months at a minimum currently for most builders."

Sandersonsaid the signs point to continued strength in both residential and non-residential construction for at least another few years.

Nationally, investment in new housing was down 2.2 per cent from August to August.

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