Value of Canadian Building Permits Declines 4.1% in March

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that the total value of building permits issued in Canada decreased 4.1% to CA$12.9 billion in March. On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), permit values declined 5.1% but remained 11.1% higher year-over-year.

Residential Permits

Residential construction intentions rose 2.0% to $8.7 billion in March. A $322.5 million increase in multi-family permits to $5.9 billion offset a $155.6 million drop in single-family permits to $2.8 billion.

British Columbia drove the gain in multi-family permits, rising $397.8 million—primarily from the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA), which jumped $652.3 million. Meanwhile, the decline in single-family permits was led by Ontario (down $185.7 million) and Quebec (down $26.0 million).

In total, 22,800 multi-family and 4,400 single-family dwellings were authorized in March, a 4.6% increase from February.

Nonresidential Permits

Nonresidential permits dropped 14.5% to $4.2 billion in March. The commercial component led the decline, falling 19.0% (-$474.1 million) to $2.0 billion. Institutional permits fell 14.4% (-$238.5 million), while industrial permits dipped 0.5% (-$3.7 million), continuing a slide that began in October 2024.

Q1 Overview

The total value of building permits rose 2.9% in Q1 to $39.1 billion, marking the fifth straight quarterly gain.

Residential permits increased 5.9% (+$1.5 billion) to $25.9 billion, driven by a record $17.3 billion in multi-family permits (up 9.6%). However, single-family intentions edged down 0.6% (-$55.0 million) to $8.6 billion.

Nonresidential permits fell 2.6% to $13.2 billion, the second consecutive quarterly decline. The industrial (-$884.5 million) and institutional (-$60.7 million) components declined, partially offset by a $591.1 million gain in commercial permits.