While underperforming the national retail sales bounce registered in March of this year, B.C. retail spending did rebound with a 0.3-per-cent increase in seasonally adjusted sales, after a 0.7-per-cent dip in February.
Consistent with the national picture, this provincial increase was due to higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers. Unadjusted retail sales in the province were also up 3.5 per cent compared to the same month in 2024. Preliminary national data for April suggests we’ll see another gain follow.
Subsector data is unadjusted for seasonality, but year-over-year figures showed higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, up by 12.4 per cent. Health and personal care retailers’ sales increased by 2.9 per cent in the same period, as did sales at clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers, which saw sales increase by 4.4 per cent.
In contrast, furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers’ sales decreased by 6.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Gasoline and fuel vendors also reported a 6.9-per-cent drop in the same period due to lower crude oil prices.
Regionally, the Metro Vancouver area saw seasonally adjusted retail sales rise by 0.7 per cent, while unadjusted sales increased by 5.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, B.C.’s inflation rate slipped to a year-over-year rate of two per cent in April. This was down from 2.6 per cent in the prior month, but still higher than the national rate of 1.7 per cent. Lower gasoline prices contributed to the deceleration with a 20.4-per-cent, year-over-year decline owing largely to the removal of the consumer carbon tax. However, inflation excluding energy sat at 3.1 per cent — higher than it was in the previous month (at 2.9 per cent). Firm underlying pressure partly reflects the pass-through of trade war impacts into prices.
B.C. shelter prices rose 3.3 per cent year over year in April, easing from 3.7 per cent in the previous month. This was the slowest annual increase seen in more than three years for this category. Transportation prices declined by 1.5 per cent, largely due to a 20.4-per-cent drop in gasoline prices.
Food prices rose 4.3 per cent on a year-over-year basis, with food purchased from stores up 4.9 per cent. Within this category, meat prices climbed 6.7 per cent, while dairy products and egg prices increased by 3.3 per cent. Notably, the increase in prices for food purchased from stores has outpaced the all-items consumer price index for three consecutive months. Food purchased at restaurants rose 3.4 per cent.•
Bryan Yu is chief economist at Central 1.
