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Canadian Homebuilding Now Takes Up More Of Economy Than It Ever Has

Exports and energy are in decline, but homebuilding presses on.

Exports are falling. New spending in the energy sector is retreating.

But homebuilding presses on.

So says BMO, which released a chart Wednesday showing that home construction is reaching record levels as a share of the economy.

The chart shows that homebuilding makes up 7.7 per cent of Canada's economy, "above the prior highs set in the late-1980s and in 2007."

BMO noted that prices have heavily influenced the growth of homebuilding recently, while "oil has weighed heavily on overall nominal GDP," economist Robert Kavcic said.

These numbers were released as another chart showed that Canadian GDP is "not as bad as it looks."

Economist Benjamin Reitzes said Canada's GDP contracted by 1.6 per cent in the second quarter, but that it was "entirely due" to the Alberta wildfires that ravaged Fort McMurray this summer.

He said the economy is likely to rebound in the third quarter, and that GDP already started seeing an upward swing in June.

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