Building permits soar 11.6% in March

By NextHome Staff
May 11, 2015

According to the Statistics Canada, the value of Canadian building permits increased 11.6 per cent to $6.9 billion in March. Not only is this the first time in three months that Canada has seen an increase in the total value of building permits, but this is the highest increase in six months. The report noted that construction intentions heightened in both the residential and non-residential sectors, and far exceeded economists' prediction of a 2.5-per-cent increase.

Construction intentions for multi-family dwellings increased significantly in march, growing 19.6 per cent to $201 billion. The total number of authorized construction units increased 24.9 per cent from the previous month to 18,586, and the vast majority were for multi-family dwellings. Of these authorized units, 13,126 are for multi-family dwellings, while the other 5,460 units are for single-family dwellings. For the second consecutive month, the value of single-family building permits decreased, falling 3.4 per cent to $2.3 billion.

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British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta experienced the largest increase in the total value of building permits. British Columbia had an increase in every building construction component, most notably multi-family dwellings, as well as commercial and institutional buildings. Ontario's increase was attributed to multi-family dwellings, and Alberta's increase was due to higher construction intentions for institutional and commercial buildings, and multi-family dwellings. Quebec, on the other hand, had the largest decrease, which was due to the lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings.

Higher construction intentions were evident in most metropolitan areas. Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary were the top three metropolitan areas showing the largest increase in the total value of permits. Montreal showed the highest decrease in total value of building permits, which was largely the result of lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings. Edmonton and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo also showed large declines due to a significant decrease from the residential sector.

See full report.

Photo by: Brandon Bastaldo

 

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