Canadian Monthly Value of Building Permits Increased in March

Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported Wednesday (5-10-23) that the total monthly value of building permits in Canada climbed 11.3% in March to $11.8 billion (CAD). On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the value of building permits was up 12.2% to $6.9 billion.

Residential permits in March had little follow through from February’s uptick: March saw the value of new residential permits decline 0.9% to $6.6 billion. Nationally, permits for 21,400 new dwellings were issued in March.

The total monthly value of non-residential permits increased sharply during March, increasing 32.0% to a record-high $5.2 billion, with 10 individual non-residential projects valued at over $100 million each. Commercial construction intentions posted a 41.5% gain and institutional construction intentions rose 29.5%, which also helped to support a record-high month for the non-residential sector.

2023Q1 Overall Results:

The total value of building permits in 2023Q1 gained 4.8% from 2022Q4, increasing to $32.4 billion and bringing three consecutive quarterly declines to an end. On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total quarterly value of building permits increased 3.4% to $18.9 billion.

The commercial component’s gain of 17.2% led the quarterly growth, much of which was from building permits issued in March. Overall, the non-residential sector expanded 16.1% to a record-high $13.0 billion in Q1, greatly exceeding the previous quarterly record of $12.4 billion. This coincided with the Bank of Canada’s decision to pause interest rate hikes, the first reprieve since the initial hikes started in March 2022.

However, the Bank of Canada’s decision has yet to be reflected in residential construction intentions, which fell 1.6% to $19.4 billion—the third quarterly decline in a row.