Residential Building Permits in Canada Fall in February

Building permits authorizations for construction of single and multi-family dwellings in Canada fell 23.8 percent in February and 0.6 percent year over year, according to data by Statistics Canada. Total permits were 14,011 units compared with 18,398 in January and 15,650 in December. Multi-family authorizations fell sharply during the month to 8,289 units, plummeting 29.3 percent from January. Single family permit authorizations slid 14.3 percent compared to the previous month. Value of residential permits dropped 21.1 percent to $3.6 billion from the previous month, marking the third decline in four months.

Non residential construction permit values rose 6.6 percent to $2.5 billion after falling 15.4 percent in January. Values were up 8.3 percent year over year. Commercial permit values led the way for non-residential at $1,497.6 million, down just slightly from the previous month and up slightly year over year. Institutional permit authorization values totaled $672.8 million, up 14.9 percent from February and a strong 53.9 percent year over year. Industrial permit value was $348.4 million for the month, a 26.8 percent increase from the previous month but an 11.8 percent decrease year over year.