Value of Canadian Building Permits Rises in March

On Tuesday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that the total value of building permits issued in Canada rose 10.3% in March to CA$13.5 billion, an increase of $1.3 billion from February. On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), the total value rose 10.1% month-over-month and was up 4.8% year-over-year.

Residential Construction

Residential construction intentions fell 3.3% ($270.6 million) to $8.0 billion in March. The decline was driven by the multifamily component, which decreased $270.9 million to $5.3 billion. The single-family component was little changed at $2.7 billion.

Nonresidential Construction

The value of nonresidential building permits increased $1.5 billion to $5.5 billion in March. The institutional component rose $817.1 million to $1.8 billion, while the industrial component increased $473.2 million to $1.5 billion and the commercial component advanced $238.0 million to $2.2 billion.

Q1 Review

In Q1, the total value of building permits increased $445.7 million to $39.0 billion, up 1.1% from 2025Q4. On a constant dollar basis (2023=100), the total value increased 0.5% to $35.6 billion.

Residential construction intentions rose 2.4% ($514.5 million) to $22.2 billion in Q1. The single-family component increased $349.8 million to $7.4 billion after four consecutive quarterly declines, while multifamily construction intentions rose $164.7 million to $14.6 billion.

Nationwide, 68,500 single-family and multifamily units were authorized for construction in Q1 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, down from 71,000 units during the same period a year earlier.

Nonresidential construction intentions declined $347.4 million to $13.4 billion in Q1. The commercial component fell $813.7 million to $5.8 billion, marking the largest quarterly decline since 2020Q4.