Ottawa, ON—September proved to be a better month for the value of building permits issued across Canada. The total value rose 4.3 per cent to $10.1 billion, which was led by Ontario (up 6.3 per cent).
Construction intentions in the residential sector were also up 8.2 per cent to $6.9 billion, while the non-residential sector decreased 3.2 per cent, reports Statistics Canada.
Overall, multi-family permits rose 18.6 per cent to $3.9 billion. However, the shining star for the month of September was Ontario’s multi-family sector, which saw an increase of the value of permits increase 40.4 per cent to $1.7 billion in September. This was thanks to high-value permits for two new condo buildings valued at over $300 million in Toronto and Mississauga. Overall, multi-family permits rose 18.6 per cent to $3.9 billion.
The same cannot be said for the construction intentions for single-family homes, as they declined 2.7 per cent to $3.0 billion. The main decreases were recorded in Ontario and Quebec.
Non-residential
Despite climbing 55.0 per cent in Alberta, the overall construction intentions for the non-residential sector were down 3.2 per cent to $3.3 billion in September. Additionally, the value of institutional building permits dropped 30.6 per cent, with Quebec recording the biggest decline at 35.3 per cent.
Commercial building permits fell 12.4 per cent to $1.6 billion in September, due to declines in Ontario. On the contrary, a record high was set for industrial building permits, up 72.1 per cent to $987 million. The increase was led by Alberta’s growth of 382.9 per cent.
Third-quarter construction intentions down
There was a second quarterly decline in the total value of building permits, down 3.8 per cent to $29.8 billion in the third quarter compared to the previous. Building permits were 14.3 per cent higher compared with the third quarter of 2020.
In the third quarter of 2021, the total value of residential building permits fell 5.4 per cent to $20.2 billion, with declines in both single-family and multi-family dwellings. In addition, construction intentions for the non-residential sector edged down 0.2 per cent to $9.6 billion when compared with the second quarter.