January sets building permit record
Municipalities issued a record total value of building permits in January.
Statistics Canada’s latest report on building permit values for the month shows $9.9 billion worth of permits issued. That figure is 8.2 percent higher than December’s total, and beats the previous record of $9.6 billion set in April 2019.
Gains were driven primarily by the residential sector. The value of those permits increased 10.6 percent to $7.1 billion in January—rising past the previous peak of $6.5 billion posted two months earlier. Provincial highs were reported in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba.
The majority of the rise in the residential sector was attributable to single-family homes, which climbed 15.1 percent to a record $3.5 billion—the eighth increase in nine months.
The value of multi-family permits increased 6.5 percent to $3.5 billion, mainly driven by higher construction intentions in Ontario (+17.1 percent), where several permits in excess of $100 million were issued in Toronto.
Gains in the non-residential sector were more modest. The total value of permits issued for non-residential buildings rose 2.6 percent to $2.8 billion in January after a 10.8-percent drop in December.
Following three consecutive monthly declines, industrial permits bounced back to average 2020 levels, increasing 31.7 percent to $535 million in January. High-value permits for an Amazon warehouse in Lachine, Quebec, and for two Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit stations in Toronto helped reverse the downward trend.
The value of commercial permits increased 3.3 percent to $1.5 billion. Six provinces posted increases in this component, led by Ontario (+14.7 percent) and Quebec (+20.4 percent).
The institutional component was the only one to contract in January. Municipalities issued $781 million worth of permits for the month—a drop of 11.8 percent from December.