Canadian municipalities issued building permits worth $7 billion in January, up 8.5 percent from December, according to Statistics Canada. The advance in January was due primarily to higher construction intentions in the residential sector, which more than offset a decline in the non-residential sector.
In the residential sector, the value of permits rose 26.3 percent to $4.6 billion. All 10 provinces posted gains in this sector.
In the non-residential sector, the value of permits fell 14.6 percent to $2.4 billion in January, following a 5.4 percent increase in December. Decreases in Quebec and, to a much lesser extent, New Brunswick offset the gains posted in the remaining provinces.
Residential
Construction intentions for multi-family dwellings rose 42.8 percent to $2.1 billion. Advances were posted in nine out of the 10 provinces.
Municipalities issued $2.5 billion worth of building permits for single-family dwellings in January, 15 percent more than in December. Gains were posted in seven of the 10 provinces.
Nationally, municipalities approved the construction of 18,366 new dwellings in January, up 17.4 percent from December. The increase was largely due to multi-family dwellings, which rose 20.9 percent to 11,580 units. The number of single-family dwellings rose 11.8 percent to 6,786 units.
Non-residential
In the commercial component, municipalities issued permits worth $1.4 billion in January, a 9.7 percent increase, following a 29.8 percent decrease in December. Increases were posted in six provinces.
The value of industrial building permits declined 24.7 percent to $373 million in January. Decreases were seen in six provinces.
In the institutional component, the value of building permits declined 41.8 percent to $574 million. Institutional construction intentions increased in eight provinces, offset by declines in Quebec.
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