The total value of Canadian building permits rose 11.6 per cent from a month earlier to $6.9 billion in March, said Statistics Canada Thursday. This was the first increase in three months. Higher construction intentions for non-residential buildings in British Columbia and Alberta and for multi-family dwellings in Ontario and British Columbia were responsible for much of the advance at the national level.
The value of single-family dwelling permits fell for a second consecutive month, down 3.4 per cent to $2.3 billion in March. Gains in five provinces, led by Ontario and Quebec, were not sufficiently large to offset the declines in the remaining provinces, with Alberta registering the largest drop.
The value of permits issued for multi-family dwellings rose 19.6 per cent to $2.1 billion in March, marking the second consecutive monthly gain. The increase was attributable to higher construction intentions in four provinces, led by Ontario and British Columbia. The largest declines were recorded in Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Building Permits, Canada
The value of non-residential building permits rose 22.1 per cent to $2.4 billion in March, following two consecutive monthly declines, said StatsCan Friday. Increases were posted in eight provinces, led by British Columbia and Alberta. Quebec and Saskatchewan also registered noticeable advances in the non-residential sector in March. Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador were the two provinces to register declines in the sector.
In the residential sector, the value of permits rose 6.6 per cent from February to $4.4 billion in March. Gains in Ontario and British Columbia offset decreases in five provinces, with Quebec and Alberta registering the largest declines.
Canadian municipalities authorized the construction of 18,586 new dwellings in March, up 24.9 per cent from the previous month. The increase stemmed from a 43.7 per cent advance in the number of multi-family dwellings to 13,126 units. In contrast, the number of single-family dwellings declined 5 per cent to 5,460 units.
The total value of permits was up in six provinces in March, led by British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta.
The total value of permits rose in 19 of the 34 census metropolitan areas, led by Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary.