According to Statistics Canada, Canadian municipalities issued $8.4 billion worth of building permits in January, down 5.5 percent from the record high in December. Lower construction intentions for commercial buildings were responsible for the national decline.
In the non-residential sector, $3.0 billion worth of permits were issued in January, down 15.8 percent from the previous month. The decrease was the result of lower construction intentions for commercial buildings, down 25.3 percent to $1.8 billion, following a record high in December.
Meanwhile, increases were reported for both the industrial (+4.8 percent) and institutional (+0.4 percent) components. The gains were mainly attributable to higher construction intentions in Ontario and Quebec.
In the residential sector, the value of building permits increased 1.6 percent from December to $5.4 billion in January. Both single-family and multi-family dwellings posted gains.
The value of single-family dwelling permits rose 3.1 percent to $2.0 billion. Four provinces reported increases, led by Ontario, with Quebec a distant second.
In the multi-family dwelling component, building permits issued by municipalities rose 0.7 percent to $3.3 billion in January, surpassing the record high set in December. This was the fifth consecutive monthly increase. The largest gain was in Ontario, while Quebec reported the largest decline.
In January, municipalities approved the construction of 21,193 new dwellings (+3.5 percent), consisting of 16,798 multi-family units (+5.1 percent) and 4,395 single-family units (-2.3 percent).