Retail sales across British Columbia increased 0.5% in September – the third increase in four months.
Sales in the province grew $27 million to $5.6 billion in the month, according to Statistics Canada data released November 25.
Across the country, sales grew 0.8% to $42.8 billion, which Nathan Janzen, economist with RBC Economics, said beat analysts’ expectations of 0.5% growth. The increase was driven by sales in the auto sector, as sales for motor vehicle and parts dealers jumped 3.4% to $10.5 billion. New car sales increased 3.3% and used car sales were up 4.4%.
Excluding auto sector sales, retail sales had no growth Canada-wide in September.
“The stronger than expected rise in the volume of September retail sales built on earlier-reported, solid gains in manufacturing and wholesale sale volumes (up 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively, in September),” said Janzen.
“We continue to expect a partial offset from a drop in educational services output related to the B.C. teacher’s strike, which extended into September; however, today’s report suggested some upside risk to our previous forecast for a 0.2% increase in overall September GDP with an increase of 0.3% looking more likely.”
Year-over-year, B.C. saw growth of 5.7%. This was the second-highest increase in Canada after Alberta, where retail sales increased by 1% or $68 million to $6.7 billion.
@EmmaHampelBIV
