Building permits pass $6B
The value of Canadian building permits soared to near record highs in October, propelled by an increase in demand for multi-family and commercial dwellings.
Strong performances by Alberta and British Columbia pushed construction intentions past the $6 billion mark for the second time on record.
Calgary has already set a record for yearly totals with two months left to go. The last time the value of Canadian permits was this high was last December, when they were valued at $6.3 billion.
In Toronto, the value of building permits rose by 3.5 per cent from September to pass the $1 billion mark for the second time this year.
But despite the city’s strong performance, the picture was murkier in Ontario as the value of permits declined by 1.8 per cent from $1.96 billion in September to $1.92 billion this month.
“In the non-residential sector, which drove the decline in October, basically it’s the industrial component that declined because commercial and institutional were up,” said Etienne Saint-Pierre, an analyst at Statistics Canada.
Saint-Pierre noted the value of Ontario’s industrial sector permits fell by 40 per cent from September to $119,300,000 in October. Hurting Ontario, he notes, is its struggling manufacturing sector.
“I think the big picture is construction is slowing east of Manitoba,” said housing analyst Will Dunning.
Though Ontario is still close to the peak in construction it experienced during the last two years, Dunning said, “it’s likely to slow a little bit but only very gradually the coming year.”
On the other hand, Ontario’s residential fortunes have continued to rise as permit values showed a 2.6 per cent increase based on strong gains in proposals for multi-family dwellings.
In a separate report, the Toronto Real Estate Board said the GTA’s resale housing market remained strong in November.About 6,281 homes were resold last month, compared with 6,646 last year.
“The market is holding very steady as we progress through autumn and we are seeing a good level of activity across the board,” said Dorothy Mason, president of the board.