Third month in a row for Canada; B.C. suffers largest dollar decrease
Sun
The value of building permits in Canada fell unexpectedly for the third straight month in January, with the largest decrease in dollars occurring in B.C., Statistics Canada reported Thursday.
The value of permits issued by B.C. municipalities dropped by 22.4 per cent, to $815 million, the lowest level since April 2006 and a decline of $235 million from December.
The federal agency also reported that the value of B.C. permits in January was down 22.5 per cent from the same month last year, dragged down largely by a sharp drop in permits issued in Metro Vancouver.
Metro Vancouver permits issued in January totalled $427 million in value, a drop of 34.4 per cent compared to the $651 million recorded January 2007.
That drop was large enough to eclipse even a 121-per-cent gain in the Kelowna census metropolitan area, where permits rose to $75 million in January from the $34-million value reported in the same month last year.
In B.C. the percentage drop in non-residential permit values was greater, 51 per cent, than the nine-per-cent drop in residential permits from January to January.
The dollar-value drop in residential permits was $65 million, from $718 million in January 2007, to $653 million in January 2008. In the non-residential sector, the numbers changed from $334 million to $162 million, a difference of $172 million.
But the declines are within normal industry bounds, according to the Vancouver Regional Construction Association.
“We don’t see this as a longer- term trend as the industry is still operating at full capacity,” Keith Sashaw, president of the VRCA, said in a news release. “We will continue to watch the numbers, but we are not hearing concern from our members at this point.”
And Philip Hochstein, president of the Vancouver-based Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, said in a separate release: “We’re coming off a record year in 2007 for building permits, so it’s not surprising to see some declines.
“The building permit numbers reflect an economy that is continuing to grow and do well, but is not at the heated levels of the last few years.”
He added: “The overheated construction market in B.C. has resulted in labour shortages and cost escalation, so a moderation in activity would benefit industry and consumers.”
But nationally, economists had forecast the value of permits, a measure of future construction plans, to climb by one per cent. Instead they dropped 2.9 per cent from December to January, to $5.9 billion.
Ontario reported the largest dollar gain, with municipalities approving $2.4 billion worth of permits, including a 68-per-cent December-January gain in non-residential permits, to $1.4 billion.
Alberta posted a 4.2-per-cent gain to $1.2 billion, while Quebec mirrored Ontario‘s experience, with a 2.7-per-cent decline in residential permits offset by a 14-per -cent advance in non-residential permits. The total value of Quebec permits rose 1.9 per cent in January to $989 million.
Statistics Canada said that despite the declines, building sites would be busy in the first part of 2008 as construction intentions were strong in 2007.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
