Building permit totals reached another record—of nearly $11 billion—in March thanks to yet another strong month for construction in the residential sector.

Nationally, the value of permits jumped 5.7 percent to $10.9 billion, and a large share of that total—$8 billion—came from activity in the housing sector. The value of residential permits rose by nearly 16 percent for the month.

Permit values for multi-family homes jumped 24.5 percent compared with February to an unprecedented $4.3 billion. This gain resulted largely from permits being issued for residential towers in the cities of Toronto, Burlington and Vaughan.

Single-family homes also reached new heights, increasing 7.6 percent to $3.8 billion. The census metropolitan area of Oshawa was responsible for just over one-third of this growth.

Conversely, construction in the non-residential sector pulled back for the month. The value of non-residential permits fell 15.6 percent to $2.8 billion.

Following a month in which several major permits were issued for care facilities, the value of institutional permits fell 33.5 percent to $732.1 million. Eight provinces posted a decline in this component, with Quebec (-54.5 percent) recording the most significant drop.

The value of commercial permits, meanwhile, dropped 14.6 percent to $1.5 billion, about 25 percent% lower than the average monthly value reported in 2019. After declining slightly in the first two months of 2020, commercial permits took a large hit at the start of the pandemic, and have since averaged around the $1.5 billion-mark.

The industrial component was the only one of the three non-residential markets to record a gain in March. Permit values there rose 16.4 percent to $650.5 million. Several major permits were issued, including a new relay control centre for railroads in the city of Montréal and the Rutherford Station of the Go Transit system in the city of Vaughan.

The white-hot start to permit activity so far this year has also led to a record-setting first quarter of the year. Permit values for the first three months of 2021 reached a combined $13.2 billion—12.7 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2020.

The first three months of 2021 were the highest posted in the residential sector (+15.0 percent). Despite rising 7.5% in the first quarter to $9.1 billion, however, construction intentions for non-residential buildings remain well below the peak of $10.6 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2019.