Steel Markets

Canada Housing Permits Muted

June 7, 2014

Building permit values in Canada rose 1.1 percent to $6.0 billion in April following two months of decline. Building intentions for the residential sector offset the decline in nonresidential.

Commercial sector permit values fell 14.8 percent to $1.3 billion in April. The decline followed a 0.3 percent gain the previous month and put commercial permit values at the lowest level since March 2013.

Authorized permits for residential dwellings in April totaled 15,416, a 3.2 percent decline from the previous month. Multifamily permits declined by 6 percent to 9,641 units while single-family authorizations rose 2 percent to 5, 775 units.

From January to April 2014 63,851 units were authorized, compared to 64,147 in the same period in 2013. Multifamily units accounted for 63 percent of residential permit authorizations in the first four months of this year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation expects housing starts to range between 172,300 and 189,900 units in 2014 and 160,600 to 203,600 units in 2015.