According to Statistics Canada, spending on new residential building construction totaled $3.9 billion in December, up 4.8 percent from the same month a year earlier.
The increase at the national level came mainly from higher investment in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction, up 23.9 percent year over year to $1.4 billion. Spending on row house construction also contributed to the advance, up 3.4 percent to $348 million.
Conversely, investment in single-family dwellings fell 3.4 percent year over year to $2.0 billion. Spending on semi-detached dwelling construction declined 16.2 percent to $181 million.
At the provincial level, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec reported the largest increases.