But red-hot B.C. continues to buck the national trend
Ashley Ford
Province
Construction workers continue work on the new convention centre currently going up in Coal Harbour. Photograph by : Nick Procaylo, The Province
Canada’s construction boom may have got a boot in the pants in February, but there are few worries from B.C’s vibrant construction industry.
Statistics Canada numbers released yesterday show that the value of building permits tumbled by more than a fifth from January.
Municipalities issued $4.9 billion worth of building permits in February, down 22.4 per cent from January and 12 per cent below last year’s monthly average.
“One month does not a year make,” said Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association.
“We are going to see these pauses as major housing projects move through the approval process.
“There is no slackening of demand here at all, and we are still having trouble finding skilled workers. You have to remember that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. does not even count a permit until a project has reached the first-floor level. There are lots of projects now moving through the process and about to get under way that have not yet been counted,” he said.
Simpson predicted “another strong year,” with about 18,000 starts across the Lower Mainland.
“People have short memories,” he said. “In 2001, a brutal year, there were only 8,200 starts. We peaked in 2004 at 19,435 starts. In 2005 we had 18,924 starts and last year 18,705 starts.”
February’s drop, the fastest in 13 months, came in both the residential and non-residential sectors, and permits fell in all provinces except Manitoba. February’s level was the lowest since April 2006, and 10.6 per cent below the average for 2006.
Ontario incurred the biggest dollar loss in the value of residential permits, posting its lowest total since December 2001 at $1 billion.
On the face of it there were significant declines in B.C., Alberta and Quebec. As in Ontario, the declines came from retreats in both the single- and multi-family components.
February permits in B.C. declined 34.4 per cent to $428.4 million, compared with January’s robust $653.4 million. But so far this year they are still running 40.7 per cent ahead of where they were last year, with $1.08 billion in permits being issued.
Nationally, the value of residential permits fell 17.8 per cent to
$3 billion, the lowest since March 2005, while the non-residential sector dropped 28.7 per cent to $1.9 billion.
But again, B.C. bucked the trend and, along with Manitoba, recorded gains in commercial permits, fuelled largely by projects for trade and services buildings in both provinces.
The Vancouver Regional Construction Association said total building permit values to date in 2007 rose to $1.19 billion, 47.3 per cent higher than the same period last year.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
