Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate in Canada, 2018 Edition

By: The Conference Board of Canada

Release Date: January 2019

The main purpose of this report is to quantify the economic impact of commercial real estate investment in Canada, with a specific focus on estimating the impact tied to investment in the country’s largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs), including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau and Montreal.

The impact of commercial real estate investment is estimated in this report along three key measures of economic activity: gross domestic product (GDP, or value-added), employment and labour income. The analysis also includes estimates of the government revenues that are associated with the economic activity stimulated in the country by commercial real estate through the indirect taxes (sales taxes and user fees) charged on products and services, and taxes on the labour and corporate income that is generated.

In 2017, the $38.6 billion spent on commercial real estate in Canada supported:

  • $40.2 billion in gross domestic product (GDP)
  • $25.2 billion in labour income
  • 419,197 jobs
  • $10.1 billion in government revenues

Read the press release.

See data by province/city, including downloadable reports.

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Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate in Canada, 2018 Edition from NAIOP Corporate on Vimeo.