The monthly total value of building permits in Canada decreased 4.0% in January to $9.8 billion, reported Statistics Canada on Friday.
There were eight provinces that reported decreases in January, with the multi-residential sector in British Columbia significantly contributing to the national fall.
“The residential sector declined 6.6 per cent to $6.1 billion in January, while the non-residential sector was relatively stable, increasing a modest 0.7 per cent to $3.7 billion,” said the federal agency. “On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total value of building permits went down 3.2 per cent to $5.8 billion in January.”
StatsCan said the downward trend of multi-family homes continued as construction intentions declined 8.3 per cent in January. Most of the decline stemmed from British Columbia (-27.9 per cent or -$301.2 million) following a month of significant urban development intentions. Conversely, Manitoba posted a notable increase (+106.0 per cent or +$63.0 million) in January.
Total permit values for single-family homes decreased 4.4 per cent in January, with Quebec (-13.5 per cent or -$74.6 million) contributing the most to the decline. Alberta (+0.8 per cent) and British Columbia (+0.6 per cent) were the only provinces to post increases for this component, it added.
“Construction intentions in the institutional sector decreased 5.9 per cent in January, with Quebec (-21.1 per cent) having the biggest decline. Conversely, British Columbia jumped 43.8 per cent due to an $87 million permit for an educational building in Kelowna.”
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