National Building Permit Value Declines

The total value of building permits in Canada fell four per cent in January to $9.8 billion, says Statistics Canada. On a constant dollar basis, the total value of building permits dropped 3.2 per cent to $5.8 billion. The value of residential permits declined 6.6 per cent to $6.1 billion in January. This was a result of a decrease of 8.3 per cent in the multi-family dwelling component with British Columbia (-27.9 per cent) contributing to much of the decline. The single-family dwelling component decreased 4.4 per cent. The total permit value of non-residential sector was up slightly by 0.7 per cent to $3.7 billion in January. The institutional component building permit value decreased 5.9 per cent, the industrial component fell 3.9 per cent, and the commercial permit value increased 5.4 per cent.