LNG Canada The B.C. economy grew by a surprisingly robust 3.8% (after inflation) last year. This is surprising because not only does it follow a strong 3.2% expansion in 2016, but it also marks another year when the province grew at a pace above its long-run potential. Some observers may be taken slightly aback that B.C. managed to achieve such an impressive growth rate amid an unsettled global backdrop and the early stages of a slowdown in the province ’ s normally busy residential housing complex. A couple of years ago, we published a back-of-the-envelope calculation estimating that the “ residential housing complex ” was driving 35% to 40% of all economic growth in B.C. With the final numbers now in, it turns out that in 2015 the residential housing complex – which includes residential construction, renovation spending, the offices of realtors and related activity and a measure of homeowners ’ imputed rent — was directly responsible for two-fifths of GDP growth that year. In 2016, the share slipped to a still substantial one-third. This is just the direct contribution. When retail sales linked to housing (building materials, home furnishings and appliances, etc.), related financial and legal services and […]
