Month over month, the total value of building permits in Canada decreased 11.7 per cent to $10.5 billion in March, according to Statistics Canada. In its regular construction-industry update, the federal government department says construction intentions in the non-residential component declined 16.7 per cent to $4 billion, while the residential sector decreased by 8.3 per cent to $6.5 billion. Declines were observed in all components except for the commercial component.

On a constant dollar basis (2017=100), the total value of building permits fell 11.6 per cent in March, following two consecutive months of increases.

Stats Can says there were reductions in the industrial (-46.1 per cent; -$629.8 million) and the institutional (-22.2 per cent; -$293.1 million) components. The large decline in the industrial component was due to the lack of major industrial permits issued in March compared with February, which was the second-highest monthly level recorded.

The commercial component tempered the declines in the non-residential sector by growing 5.8 per cent to $2.2 billion in March.

The value of residential building permits decreased 8.3 per cent to $6.5 billion in March. Ontario (-13.7 per cent; -$377.4 million) led the decline in value for both single-family and multi-family dwelling permits. Despite the overall decline, the residential sector grew in Quebec (+7.3 per cent; +$90.1 million), Prince Edward Island (+70.4 per cent; +$14.3 million), Saskatchewan (+10.3 per cent; +$6.3 million), Newfoundland and Labrador (+7.7 per cent; +$2.2 million) and Manitoba (+0.9 per cent; +$1.4 million).

Across Canada, 16,800 new multi-unit dwellings and 4,200 new single-family homes were authorized in March. From April 2023 to March 2024, a total of 260,200 new units were authorized.

The total value of building permits in the first quarter of 2024 was $33.4 billion, a 3.7 per cent increase from the previous quarter ($32.2 billion). This represents a partial rebound from the fourth quarter of 2023, which was the lowest quarterly total value since the third quarter of 2021 ($30.5 billion). The growth was driven by British Columbia (+20.1 per cent; +$988.4 million), which posted significant gains in the commercial and industrial non-residential components, and in the multi-unit residential component. Despite quarterly gains, construction intentions in the first quarter of 2024 remained lower than the average quarterly levels of the previous two years.

Construction intentions in the non-residential sector increased 6.9 per cent to $13.0 billion in the first quarter, led by the commercial component (+22.3 per cent to $6.6 billion), which posted the highest level of the previous four quarters. Growth was driven by permits for office buildings. Overall, nine provinces and territories reported increases in commercial construction intentions, led by Ontario (+34.8 per cent; +$710.1 million), Quebec (+31.2 per cent; +$296.6 million) and British Columbia (+32.4 per cent; +$269.3 million).

The value of residential building permits edged up 1.8 per cent in the first quarter. Growth in the multi-unit component (+7.9 per cent; +$919.5 million) was partially offset by declines in the single-family homes component (-6.6 per cent; -$565.6 million).