StatsCan building permits report: March 2022

The total value of building permits in Canada decreased 9.3% in March to $11.7 billion, mainly due to the non-residential sector (-29.5% to $3.7 billion). Two large hospital permits issued in February pushed that month’s total to a record high.

On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total value of building permits was down 11.5% to $7.6 billion in March.

Residential sector up in March
Residential permits in March increased 4.7% to $7.9 billion nationally.

Construction intentions for single family homes were up 3.3%, reaching the highest value since March 2021, with Ontario registering the largest gain (+12.0%).

The value of multi-family building permits rose 6.0% nationally, helped by high value projects such as a $457 million permit for the Ravine condos in the city of Toronto.

First quarter of 2022 reaches record high
The total value of building permits in the first quarter of 2022 increased 5.3% from the fourth quarter of 2021, to $34.9 billion.

The non-residential sector jumped 18.8% in the first quarter of 2022 to a record high of $12.5 billion, largely due to the institutional component (+58.6%) which saw two hospital permits issued in Vancouver and Quebec, valued at a combined $1.9 billion. The industrial (+15.3%) and commercial (+2.0%) components also saw gains for the quarter.

The residential sector saw a 1.0% decline in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, with a decrease in multi-family permits (-3.0%) more than offsetting a slight gain in single-family construction intentions (+1.3%).