Building Permit Value Declines

The total value of building permits in Canada fell 7.3 per cent in December to $10.3 billion, says Statistics Canada, with declines in both the residential and non-residential sectors. On a constant dollar basis, the total value of building permits fell 7.4 per cent to $6.1 billion. The value of residential permits decreased 8.4 per cent to $6.5 billion nationally in December. This was a result of a decrease of 11.6 per cent in the multi-family dwelling component with Quebec (-43.4 per cent) contributing to much of the decline. The single-family dwelling component decreased 3.9 per cent. The total permit value of the non-residential sector declined 5.3 per cent to $3.8 billion in December. The institutional component building permit value increased 0.9 per cent, the industrial component decreased 23.4 per cent, and the commercial component edged up 2.2 per cent.