Building Activity Increases

The total value of building permits in Canada increased 11.9 per cent in August to $12.5 billion, says Statistics Canada. Both the residential sector (12 per cent to $8.4 billion) and non-residential sector (11.8 per cent to $4 billion) saw strong gains, with Ontario causing much of the increase. Construction intentions in the single-family homes component edged up 0.4 per cent as the value of building permits in the multi-family component sharply increased by 22.2 per cent, largely due to Ontario (85.3 per cent). A $480 million permit for a luxury skyscraper in Toronto along with several other permits for apartments resulted in the largest recorded monthly value for the province.