I would almost wager that its' root-system is either not large enough to support the upper-growth or that the roots are circling below and choking other roots.

Dax

when was it planted... july/august????

potted or ball and burlap ...

how did you plant it ....

how have you cared for it since ... what is your watering protocol ....

where are you ...

do you have clay soil ....

what has the weather been.. did you have a very bad winter if planted last year ...

how close is it to that cement.. does the sun bake the cement????

and most important.. give us some pix of the buds ... if those survive.. it will survive ... i cant tell from this pic ...

besides the pic.. you havent given us many facts to speculate upon ...

one thing for sure.. its stressed ... and that is why it is shedding needles... the question is.. has the stress been solved already ...

for sure.. it is NOT hungry ... no fert ... and i hope you didnt throw any in the hole ...

do you have a warranty????

ken

It was planted in June when we redid the front yard. Loaded the beds with top soil. Soil is clayish.
Potted.
Planted with a little bone meal . No fertilizer.
I'm in Vancouer BC, Canada. Our house is south west facing and we had a hot dry summer. I watered at night depending on how dry the soil was. This started in early September and has progressively worsened. I don't see any signs of fungas.
I'll post a picture of the other side.
It's definitely stressed. I thought is was due the mites/ aphids, which I dealt with, but the plant seems to be getting worse not better.
I do have a warranty. I purchased the plant from a reputable nursery.

Thus is what the tree looks like today.

Sorry, looks like tree is history. Maybe you actually burned it with the spray, maybe the needles were damaged beyond repair by the mites before you killed them off. Nobody here can comment usefully on the damage without much closer views of it.

Close up

I've wondered from the start if this wasn't fungal and that still may be possible, meanwhile the fine speckling and look of dirtiness are like what is often associated with mites.

All of the mites are dead; from what I can see anyway. I've been keeping a close on it. The infestation happened fast at when it did it was huge! I had ants and wasps going after them.
I sprayed the tree with water to remove the mites but some dead still remain.
As far as fungas, I don't see typical signs ie. white or black dots on the back of the needles.

See my previous comment ("Sorry" etc.).

Thanks for your help! :( for my tree.

Hbop ... can you take a close up photo of the bottom of the tree that I had circled in red. What I see at the very base of your tree looks very similar to what I had observed on one of my blue spruce trees that had died.

Here's what was on mine and I believe the reason for it dying, though I have no clue as to what this is other than possibly a type of canker, in no way had I previously injured the base of this tree. Photo had been taken after I had uprooted the dead specimen.

Hbop,

Your conifer was already dead when you planted it.

Just replace it next Spring.

Probably what Dax said is the leading factor for its demise.

Dave