Canadian Building Permits Decline 6.5% in September

Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Wednesday (11-8-23) that the total monthly value of building permits in Canada fell 6.5% in September to $11.2 billion (CAD). On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total value of building permits declined 7.5% to $6.4 billion in September.

Led by a 37.2% monthly increase in construction intentions in British Columbia, the total value of residential permits increased 4.3% to $7.2 billion in September. Nationwide, 21,700 new dwelling units were authorized through building permits. That is 5.6% above August and 2.3% higher than September 2022.

The value of nonresidential permits fell 21.0% from August to $4.0 billion in September. Even with the sharp month-over-month decline, the total value of nonresidential building permits was 18.7% higher than the September 2022 level of $3.4 billion.

Q3 Review:

In Q3, the total value of building permits increased 4.9% from Q2 to $34.6 billion.

The residential sector increased 3.4% to $21.2 billion, with 64,400 new units authorized though building permits. In Q3, 13,600 new single-family homes were authorized, 12.1% higher than the 12,200 single-family homes authorized in Q2. The increase follows six consecutive quarters of declines in the single-family component.

The nonresidential sector posted a 7.3% gain to $13.5 billion. All three nonresidential components advanced, with the institutional component rising 13.8% to a new record high of $4.5 billion. This also marks the fourth consecutive quarterly increase for the institutional component.