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Building permits, August 2018

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Released: 2018-10-10

Building permits — Canada

$8.1 billion

August 2018

0.4% increase

(monthly change)

Building permits — N.L.

$51.6 million

August 2018

-21.4% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — P.E.I.

$24.7 million

August 2018

-14.6% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — N.S.

$138.5 million

August 2018

-6.2% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — N.B.

$81.3 million

August 2018

-0.4% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — Que.

$1,522.4 million

August 2018

-8.2% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — Ont.

$2,987.5 million

August 2018

-8.2% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — Man.

$285.2 million

August 2018

14.9% increase

(monthly change)

Building permits — Sask.

$129.2 million

August 2018

-11.3% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — Alta.

$1,072.9 million

August 2018

1.9% increase

(monthly change)

Building permits — B.C.

$1,835.8 million

August 2018

31.5% increase

(monthly change)

Building permits — Y.T.

$10.2 million

August 2018

-29.5% decrease

(monthly change)

Building permits — N.W.T.

$3.6 million

August 2018

8.9% increase

(monthly change)

Building permits — Nvt.

$5.5 million

August 2018

-74.4% decrease

(monthly change)

Canadian municipalities issued $8.1 billion worth of building permits in August, up 0.4% from July. Strength in the non-residential sector drove the increase, while the residential sector declined for the third consecutive month.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Total value of building permits
Total value of building permits

Chart 2  Chart 2: Value of building permits for residential and non-residential sectors
Value of building permits for residential and non-residential sectors

Non-residential sector: High value projects drive the increase

In the non-residential sector, $3.2 billion worth of permits were issued in August, up 8.8% from the previous month. Both the institutional (+25.8%) and commercial (+8.9%) components contributed to the gain, which was largely the result of the issuance of permits for a new hospital in Ontario and new office buildings in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, the value of industrial permits fell 5.9% in August to $677 million. This followed a 13.4% gain in July, as multiple permits were issued that month for transportation terminals and manufacturing structures in Ontario and Alberta.

Chart 3  Chart 3: Month-to-month change in value of residential building permits, August 2018
Month-to-month change in value of residential building permits, August 2018

Residential sector: Third consecutive month of declines for both components

Municipalities issued $5.0 billion worth of residential permits in August, down 4.4% from July and marking the third consecutive monthly decline for the sector. Five of the six provinces that posted decreases had lower intentions for both single and multi-family construction.

The value of permits for single-family dwellings was down 5.2% to $2.2 billion, maintaining the general downward trend that began in January 2018. While eight provinces posted decreases in the month, Ontario and British Columbia contributed the most to the decline.

In the multi-family dwelling component, the value of permits fell 3.8% to $2.7 billion. Despite the monthly decline, the year-to-date value was $3.5 billion higher than the same time last year. Multi-family dwellings have represented over 70% of the total units for six of eight months so far this year. There are no previous years on record where multi-units exceeded that level.

Chart 4  Chart 4: Month-to-month change in value of non-residential building permits, August 2018
Month-to-month change in value of non-residential building permits, August 2018

Provinces and census metropolitan areas: British Columbia reaches another record high

In August, only three provinces reported gains, led by a record high in British Columbia. The largest decline occurred in Ontario, due to lower construction intentions in the residential sector.

The value of permits in British Columbia reached a record high of $1.8 billion in August, 12.8% above the previous record set in March 2018. In the non-residential sector, the value of permits passed the $600-million mark for the first time. Large projects for office buildings in the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) were largely responsible for the growth.

In the CMA of Vancouver, the value of permits rose 66.4% to $1.4 billion in August, accounting for three-quarters of the value in British Columbia. Although most of the increase came from the City of Vancouver, the City of Burnaby issued over $250 million worth of permits for apartment buildings, bringing the total to over $800 million for the year.

In Ontario, all components declined in August, except institutional buildings. The value of permits in the residential sector dropped 13.9%. This followed several strong months in the multi-family dwelling component.

At the CMA level, the value of residential permits in Ottawa fell 60.9% in August, following a 59.9% gain in July. This was due to the implementation of higher development fees in the city, as developers applied for permits ahead of August's fee increase.




  Note to readers

Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitates month-to-month comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.

The Building Permits Survey covers over 2,400 municipalities, representing 95% of the Canadian population. The communities representing the other 5% of the population are very small and their levels of building activity have little impact on the total for the entire population.

Building permits data are used as a leading indicator of activity in the construction industry.

The value of planned construction activities presented in this release excludes engineering projects (such as waterworks, sewers or culverts) and land.

For the purposes of this release, the census metropolitan area of Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario/Quebec) is divided into two areas: the Ottawa part and the Gatineau part.

Unless otherwise specified, the highlights refer to seasonally adjusted current dollars and are ranked in terms of dollar change rather than percentage change.

Revision

Unadjusted data for the current reference month are subject to revision based on late responses. Data for the previous month have been revised. Seasonally adjusted data are revised for the previous two months.

Trend-cycle estimates have been added to the charts as a complement to the seasonally adjusted series. Both the seasonally adjusted and the trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and even lead to a reversal of movement, especially at the end of the series. The higher variability associated with the trend-cycle estimates is indicated with a dotted line on the chart.

For information on trend-cycle data, see the StatCan Blog and Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.

Next release

Data on building permits for September will be released on November 6.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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