In March, contractors in Canada reported building permits worth $6.8 billion, up 4.7% from the previous month. Statistics Canada attributes the gain to higher construction intentions for both institutional and commercial buildings, mostly in Ontario. The value of building permits was up in eight provinces in March while the total value of permits rose in 23 of Canada's 34 metro areas.

The non-residential sector led the increase with the sector’s value of permits up13.9% to $2.9 billion, after a 37.7% increase the previous month. This was the highest level since June 2010. The institutional and commercial components had increases of 88.4% and 15.3% respectively while the industrial component declined 42.8%. This large drop in the industrial sector came a month after the permits more than doubled for industrial buildings.

Residential permits dropped again for the third month, down 1.3% to $3.9 billion. Single-family permits declined for the third month, down 1.7% to $2.3 billion. The multi-family sector was down a slight 0.7% from February to $1.6 billion. However, the value of multi-family permits was still 8.6% higher than the monthly average in 2011. Municipalities across Canada issued permits for the construction of 17,650 new dwellings, up 2.1% from February. The increase came from both multi-family dwellings, which rose 2.5% to 10,594 units, and single-family dwellings, which increased 1.4% to 7,056 units.

Source: Statistics Canada