Building permit values increase in June
A 6.2-percent increase in building permit values in June has brought the total level of permit activity to just shy of those recorded as recently as November 2019.
June’s total activity reached $8.057 billion. That total was lower than the $8.416 billion recorded in February 2020, but is nearing the total of $8.11 billion recorded toward the end of last year.
Seven provinces reported gains, with both the residential and non-residential sectors showing increases.
The total value of residential permits rose 7 percent 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 percent to $1.3 billion due to large projects such as the $687-million Oakridge Centre redevelopment.
Nationally, the value of permits for single-family homes increased 6.6 percent to $2.1 billion, driven by gains in Quebec (+14.6 percent) and Ontario (+7.2 percent).
The value of permits issued for multi-family dwellings rose for the third consecutive month, up 7.3 percent to $3.2 billion, largely due to major projects in the census metropolitan area of Vancouver (+43.8 percent).
The value of non-residential permits rose 4.6 percent to $2.7 billion.
Institutional permits were up 47.7 percent to $841 million, driven by gains in British Columbia (+162.8 percent) and Ontario (+60.3 percent). In contrast, commercial (-9.1 percent to $1.3 billion) and industrial (-4.0 percent to $591 million) permits were down in June, following strong gains for both components in May.
In Ontario, the value of residential sector dropped by just $24 million for the month—to $2.16 billion. Single-family home permits rose by $68 million, while the value of permits for multi-unit buildings dropped by $91.5 million.
Meanwhile, the value of non-residential permits dropped by more than $228 million. Commercial-sector permit values dropped by more than $300 million, and the value of industrial sector permits dropped by more than $66 million. Only permit values in the institutional sector rose—by more than $140 million.
Largest quarterly decline since the 2008 financial crisis
Despite the rebound seen in the last two months of the quarter, the value of building permits was down 12.8 percent compared with the first quarter, and was a fourth consecutive quarterly decline. The second-quarter decrease was the largest reported since the fourth quarter of 2008, during the financial crisis.
Compared to the second quarter of 2019, the value of permits declined 17.4 percent nationally. Losses were reported across all provinces and territories except Newfoundland and Labrador, where quarterly gains in the institutional sector drove the increase in the total value of permits of 25.0 percent.