March building permits decline

Month over month, the total value of building permits in Canada decreased 11.7 percent to $10.5 billion in March, says Statistics Canada. Construction intentions in the residential sector decreased by 8.3 percent to $6.5 billion while the non-residential component declined 16.7 percent to $4 billion. Declines were observed in all components except for the commercial component.

For residential building permits, Ontario (-13.7 percent) led the decline in value for both single-family and multi-family dwelling permits. Despite the overall decline, the residential sector grew in Quebec (+7.3 percent), Prince Edward Island (+70.4 percent), Saskatchewan (+10.3 percent), Newfoundland and Labrador (+7.7 percent), and Manitoba (+0.9 percent).

Non-residential construction intentions decreased 16.7 percent to $4.0 billion in March, with reductions in the industrial (-46.1 percent; -$629.8 million) and institutional (-22.2 percent; -$293.1 million) components. The large decline in the industrial component was due to the lack of major industrial permits issued in March compared with February, which was the second-highest monthly level recorded.