Economy

Canadian Building Permits Fall in November

January 9, 2014

Canadian building permits declined in November to 18,173, falling 3.6 percent from October. The value of permits issued dropped 6.7 percent to $6.8 billion after gaining 8 percent the previous month. Permit values have been an upward trend with eight monthly increases in 2013.

In the residential sector, the total value of permits declined 7.6 percent to $4.1 billion in November. Permit values for multi-family dwellings fell 8.7 percent in November to $1.9 billion after posting two months of gains. Single-family dwelling permits fell 6.7 percent to $2.2 billion. A total of 18,173 residential housing permits were issued in November with multi-family falling 3.9 percent to 12,027 units and single-family dwellings down 3.1 percent to 6,146 units. Year-over-year, residential permits dropped 5.7 percent for single family units but rose 23.4 percent for multi-family units.

In the non-residential sector building permits dropped for institutional and industrial buildings, with total permit value in the sector falling 5.2 percent to $2.7 billion after rising 9.7 percent in October. Institutional permit values dropped 32 percent to $354 million. Value of industrial permits fell for the fourth consecutive month, edging down 2.2 percent to $455 million. Commercial building permit values rose a slight 1.8 percent to $1.9 billion after surging 25 percent in October.

The total value of permits dropped in 22 of 34 of the metropolitan areas covered by Statistics Canada.