Value of Canadian Building Permits Falls in September

On Thursday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that the total value of building permits issued in Canada declined 4.1% in September to CA$12.9 billion, a decrease of $552.8 million from August. On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), the total value fell 4.5% month-over-month but was up 1.9% year-over-year.

Residential Construction

Residential construction intentions declined 5.8% ($475.7 million) to $7.8 billion in September.

The multifamily component led the decline, falling $529.3 million to $5.1 billion, while single-family construction intentions increased $53.6 million to $2.7 billion.

Nonresidential Construction

The value of nonresidential building permits declined $77.1 million to $5.1 billion in September.

The institutional component fell $171.5 million to $1.6 billion, while industrial construction intentions increased $90.9 million to $1.3 billion.

Q3 Review

In Q3, the total value of building permits decreased $1.5 billion (3.6%) to $38.8 billion from the previous quarter. On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), the total value declined 4.8% to $34.7 billion.

On a constant dollar basis, nonresidential construction intentions fell $1.7 billion to $13.8 billion, the largest quarterly decline since Q2 2020. The institutional component led the decrease, falling $1.5 billion to $4.6 billion.

Residential construction intentions were virtually unchanged at $21.0 billion in constant dollars. Nationwide, 71,300 single-family and multifamily units were authorized for construction in Q3 (not seasonally adjusted), down from 78,500 units during the same quarter in 2025.