Seasonally adjusted spending on the construction of buildings in Alberta edged up by 0.5 per cent in July. While moving in the right direction, especially compared to the 24.6 per cent drop in April, spending was still down by 10.4 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Led by single dwelling homes, residential construction spending increased by 3.6 per cent in July while non-residential spending contracted by 4.7 per cent.

On a year-over-year-basis, residential spending was down by 5.5 per cent compared to 18.3 per cent for the non-residential sector.

Unlike residential spending, non-residential construction did not experience a major drop in April followed by a large rebound in May. The non-residential sector has, instead, seen spending drop by between 0.2 and 4.7 per cent in each of the last 13 months.

Nationally, spending increased by 1.8 per cent in July over June and by 0.5 per cent on a year-over-year basis.