Canada: Real Estate Weighed Heavily on Q2 GDP Growth

Real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.3% q/q in the second quarter of 2022, coming in much weaker than Bank of Canada (4%) and consensus (4.4%) expectations. Household consumption posted another solid move in Q2, advancing by 9.7%. Residential investment contracted sharply, falling by 27.6% after two quarters of outsized gains. Taken together, domestic demand made a solid advance of 2.9% in Q2 2022. But the real action was on the trade side of things. Real imports surged in the second quarter (30.5%), dwarfing the advance in exports (10.9%).