March 18, 2025
SUMMARY
Total ICI building construction investment increased 15% y/y in January 2025, with the largest annual gain coming from the institutional sector. According to structure type, the largest growth was in medical and hospitals, transportation and utilities, and schools and education. At the CMA level, London, Kingston, Barrie, and KW-Cambridge saw the largest y/y upswings.
INVESTMENT
All sectors saw increased investment compared to the same time last year. Industrial investment was up 12% y/y; commercial investment was up 11% y/y, and institutional investment was up a larger 27% y/y.
Looking at building types, medical and hospitals saw the largest y/y gain between January 2024 and 2025. The most dramatic jump came from Windsor ($0.4M to $3.5M), likely related to spending on the Windsor Acute Care Hospital. Gains in the transportation and utilities sector were spread out among multiple regions with the largest changes in Ottawa ($0.8M to $3M), London ($3.7 to $13.2M), and Oshawa ($1M to $4M). This reflects expansions for the Ottawa LRT, and infrastructure work for bus transit. Investment in schools and education was up considerably in Brantford ($0.3M to $6.5M) on the back of three newly announced elementary schools in Paris and Brantford. There were also significant upswings in Oshawa ($2.1M to $13.5M, also driven by work on new elementary schools), Kingston ($3.5M to $18.7M), and KW-Cambridge ($11.1 to $57.7M). The latter two areas derived their changes from work on university and college campus expansions.
By CMA, four regions stood out in their y/y gain in January 2025. London grew the most through investment in factories and plants, which saw a 578% increase ($13.3M to $90M). This is likely due to activity for the St. Thomas EV battery plant (however this could be affected by tariffs). As noted above, there were also sizable gains in transportation in London. The upticks for Kingston and KW-Cambridge were still primarily owing to education related projects, but Kingston also saw a large increase in recreation related investment ($1.7M to $7.1M), while hotels and restaurant investment saw a jump in KW ($3.9M to $15.2M). Barrie’s investment was concentrated in medical but saw activity jumps in hotels and restaurants ($1M and $4.6M) and warehouses ($5.5M to $18.3M). The warehouse increase comes at the heels of work on a $200M warehouse in Innisfil.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ali Ahmad
Research Analyst
Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS)
180 Attwell Drive, Suite 360, Toronto, ON M9W 6A9
P 416.620.5210 ext. 222
aahmad@iciconstruction.com
