April building permits battered
Statistics Canada’s building permit report for April shows a country-wide drop of more than 17 percent in total values. The decrease was the largest since October 2008—when the financial crisis of that year was in full effect.
Combined with a significant decline in March, the value of building permits has fallen by 28.1 percent from February levels.
Nationally, builders took out $6 billion worth of permits for the month—more than $1.2 billion less than in March, and more than $3.3 billion less than in January.
Eight provinces reported drops in permit values. Chief among these was Quebec, which lost more than 34 percent. Ontario lost 20 percent, recording $2.69 billion worth of permits. Both provinces’ decisions to down non-essential construction activity to the COVID-19 pandemic led to those declines.
The total value of residential permits fell by 14.2 percent to $3.9 billion nationally. Nine provinces reported drops. Permits for single-family homes were hardest hit in April. Indeed, the drop of nearly 36 percent—to $1.4 billion—was the highest monthly drop recorded by Statistics Canada since 2002, and nearly double the next-largest monthly decrease.
Markets in Prince Edward Island (-84.3 percent), Newfoundland and Labrador (-52.5 percent), Ontario (-50.8 percent), Manitoba (-37.1 percent) and Quebec (-29.4 percent) all recorded their largest month-over-month percentage declines.
The multi-family component was the only one—residential or otherwise—to show an increase in April. Values rose by 4.8 percent to $2.6 billion. Ontario (13.9 percent) posted a gain thanks to strong demand for such buildings in Toronto and Ottawa. Demand in Vancouver similarly propelled permit totals in British Columbia to an increase.
Across the country, the value of non-residential permits dropped by nearly 22 percent to $2.1 billion. All three components reported losses. The value of commercial permits dropped 21.5 percent to $1.2 billion—with a drop of more than 56 percent in Quebec.
Industrial permits fell by 34.7 percent to $377 million, while the value of institutional permits, which performed well in some provinces, was pulled down by significant drops in Ontario (-46.2 percent) and Quebec (-28.2 percent). In total, institutional permit values dropped 10.5 percent to $533 million.
Permit values in Ontario were pulled down by losses in four of the five sub-components. Permit values for single-family homes were cut by more than half—to $516 million. Multi-family intentions rose by nearly 14 percent to $1.2 billion.
All three non-residential sub-components lost value. Industrial permits dropped by 37 percent to $153 million, commercial permits dropped by 9.7 percent to $651 million, and institutional permits dropped by 46 percent to $145 million.