Residential building permits bounce back June: StatsCan

The total value of building permits rose 6.9% to $10.3 billion in June. Seven provinces contributed to the gain, led by Ontario, which jumped 22.7%. Construction intentions in the residential sector were up 9.1%, while the non-residential sector advanced 2.2%.

On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), building permits increased 5.2% to $7.2 billion.

Ontario residential permits bounce back

High-value permits for new apartment buildings in the census metropolitan areas (CMA) of Toronto and Hamilton helped push multi-family permits up 13.5% to $3.7 billion nationally in June. Provincially, Ontario led the way, rebounding 67.8% to $1.8 billion. On the other hand, Quebec reported the largest decrease (-29.9%), pulling back from a record high in May.

Construction intentions for single-family dwellings increased 4.7% to $3.4 billion. Seven provinces saw gains in this component, led by Ontario and Alberta.

Overall, the value of residential building permits increased 9.1% to $7.2 billion, following two months of lower construction intentions.

Residential permits pull down second-quarter intentions

Total building permits declined 1.7% to $31.0 billion in the second quarter of 2021 compared with the previous period. Despite this, the value of building permits remained the second highest on record and was 38.5% above the same quarter in 2020, which was heavily impacted by COVID-19 restrictions in the construction industry.

The value of permits for the residential sector fell 4.2% to $21.4 billion in the second quarter. Permits for both multi-family and single-family dwellings dropped, with seven provinces reporting decreases.

Construction intentions in the non-residential sector rose 4.5% to $9.6 billion. Although second-quarter values exceeded the values in the first quarter of 2020, non-residential permits remained below the quarterly levels of 2019. Among the non-residential components, institutional permits increased for a fourth consecutive quarter, boosted by large projects in the education and health care sectors.