Ottawa, ON — Following a record high in April, the total value of building permits decreased 12.2 per cent to $11.7 billion in May, reports Statistics Canada.
In total, the value of residential building permits fell 16.3 per cent to $7.1 billion in May, largely due to declines in British Columbia (down 53.7 per cent).
Excluding British Columbia, residential construction intentions declined 3.8 per cent for the remaining provinces and territories in May.
Across Canada, 22,700 dwelling units were authorized in May.
The non-residential sector also saw its value of building permits decrease by 5.0 per cent to $4.6 billion in May.
Declines in the institutional (down 18.0 per cent) and commercial (down 7.4 per cent) components more than offset growth in the industrial component (up 20.6 per cent).