Canada’s economy, household spending slowed in Q3

The latest quarterly GDP figures show that Canada’s economy slowed to 0.5% growth in the third quarter of 2018, compared to 0.7% in the previous three months.

Statistics Canada says that as an annualized rate, Canadian growth in real GDP was 2%; the US gained 3.5%.

Household spending growth was halved, from 0.6% in Q2 2018 to 0.3% in Q3 2018 with spending on durable goods leading the decrease; motor vehicle purchases fell 1.6% and spending on services dropped from 0.8% to 0.3%.

Total residential investment (-1.5%) continued to fall in the third quarter with investment in new residential construction down 4.7%, the largest decrease since the second quarter of 2009. Renovation outlays (-2.0%) were also down but ownership transfer costs rose 7.1% following two quarters of declines.

Non-residential investment in buildings and engineering structures fell 1.3% in the third quarter, following six consecutive quarterly increases.

A notable drop in investment in engineering structures (-2.3%) was partly offset by increased investment in non-residential buildings (+1.3%). The decline in engineering structures was driven by the deceleration of investment in the oil and gas sector.

 

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