With seven provinces reporting gains, the total value of building permits issued in Canada rose 6.2 per cent to $8.1 billion in June. Despite the rebound seen in the last two months, the value of building permits was down 12.8 per cent compared with the first quarter, a fourth consecutive quarterly decline, reports Statistics Canada.
The second quarter of 2020 started with record declines in April, following the implementation of COVID-19-related measures by businesses and governments. The easing of those measures in May allowed construction intentions to bounce back and continue to advance in June.
Newfoundland and Labrador saw the largest increase in building permit values, skyrocketing 71.2 per cent, while British Columbia posted an increase of 35 per cent. Three provinces reported declines: Prince Edward Island (11.7 per cent), Alberta (9 per cent) and Ontario (1.1 per cent).
The total value of residential permits was up 7 per cent to $5.3 billion, with gains posted in six provinces. British Columbia posted its third largest value on record for residential permits in June, up 20.4 per cent to $1.3 billion due to large projects such as the $687 million Oakridge Centre mixed-use redevelopment.
The value of permits for single-family homes increased 6.6 per cent to $2.1 billion, driven by gains in Quebec (14.6 per cent) and Ontario (7.2 per cent).
Metro Vancouver also helped drive up the value of permits issued for multi-family dwellings, which rose for the third consecutive month, up 7.3 per cent to $3.2 billion. The city saw an increase in June of 43.8 per cent over the previous month.
The value of non-residential permits issued in June rose 4.6 per cent to $2.7 billion.
Institutional permits rose 47.7 per cent to $841 million, driven by gains in British Columbia (162.8 per cent) and Ontario (60.3 per cent).
In contrast, the value of commercial permits was down 9.1 per cent to $1.3 billion, and industrial permits saw a decrease of 4 per cent to $591, following strong gains for both sectors in May. Ontario saw the biggest declines in both commercial (66.5 per cent) and industrial (301.8 per cent) permits, while British Columbia (153.3 per cent) and Quebec (53.9 per cent) saw the largest month-to-month rise, respectively.