While there has been much concern regarding residential real estate in Canada, it seems that even if it were to experience a brief stagnant period or decline, commercial real estate might just be there to pick up the slack. This information comes from a report recently done by the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac), along with the NAIOP Research Foundation. And the findings within it certainly show that we have a lot to thank commercial real estate for.
Commercial real estate contributes billions of dollars to the Canadian economy
In 2011, commercial real estate contributed $63.3 billion to the Canadian economy. To put that in perspective, that’s over twice as large as the entire economy of Newfoundland & Labrador.
Commercial real estate contributes hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities to the Canadian economy
Along with the actual money commercial real estate pours into the Canadian economy, this sector also creates hundreds of thousands of job opportunities – 340,000 to be exact. Those jobs allow Canadians to take home $18.1 billion in income. And to put that in perspective, it’s more than double the amount that the Canadian agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries put together.
Commercial real estate is helping businesses, too
Of course, it’s not just the people working in those businesses that commercial real estate is helping – it’s also the actual companies within those commercial real estate buildings. Commercial real estate created $12.5 billion in corporate profits for small and medium businesses.
Commercial real estate generated huge tax dollars for the federal government
Commercial real estate generated $7.2 billion in personal and corporate income tax revenues for both the federal and provincial governments. That’s a whopping total of $32.4 billion generated for Canada’s GDP. And that’s more than twice the GDP contributed by New Brunswick.
Capital investment generated half of the total spending on Canadian non-residential construction
Capital investment, the amount of money investors put into commercial real estate, equaled $21.6 billion in 2011 – which is about half of the total amount spent on Canadian non-residential construction. $14.9 billion of that total was spent on new buildings; and $6.7 billion was spent on capital improvements, renovations, and upgrading existing structures.
While these findings are most interesting, you can still find the full report on REALpac’s website here: realpac.ca. And to find even more about both commercial and residential real estate, check out our Facebook page.
