ABSTRACT
In Québec, approximately 15 billion C$ is spent annually on total immobilisation expenditures, in both the residential and nonresidential sectors. Following the trend of the North American economy, the Québec construction industry experienced a surge in activity in the 1980s and a high of 74,179 housing starts was reached in 1987. However, construction activity slowed in the late 1980s because of weakening economic growth and a general oversupply of commercial buildings and office space. The construction industry has stagnated in the 1990s 1 and this has been particularly true in Montreal, which is Québec’s economic centre. 2 With the return of favourable economic conditions, building activity has grown somewhat in 1996 and 1997, but remains well off its pre-recession highs. However, the price of new housing has remained flat since the beginning of the 1990s and building activity has been stagnant in Montreal. Industrial construction outside of the urban centres has fared well in 1996–97, as a number of large projects are now underway (e.g. construction of smelters and other industrial facilities).
