Building permits across Canada up
Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth
The total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities was up 6% (month-over-month) in December to $8.8 billion, with multifamily and commercial intentions taking the lead.
Statistics Canada says that the multifamily sector was up 11.1% to post a record high of $3.3 billion. It was the fourth consecutive monthly gain for the sector with BC and Ontario leading the gains across 6 provinces.
Meanwhile, the single-family sector posted a 5.4% decline to $2 billion. Four provinces saw lower intentions for this sector with Ontario reporting its lowest value since March 2014.
Overall residential permits totalled $5.3 billion, up 4% with BC leading the gains. Municipalities approved the construction of 20,210 new dwellings (+2.9%), consisting of 15,678 multi-family units (+5.0%) and 4,532 single-family units (-3.6%).
Commercial leads non-residential
In the non-residential sector, it was commercial building permits that dominated with a 14.6% gain in the value of permits to a record high of $2.3 billion. BC and Ontario led gains across 8 provinces.
Industrial permits totalled $588 million, up 11.9%; while institutional buildings saw a drop of 10.6% to $606 million.
The total value of building permits issued for non-residential was up 8.9% to $3.5 billion.
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