British Columbia saw Canada’s biggest increase in building permits in August, according to Statistics Canada data released October 7.
The total dollar value of permits increased by 2.9% from $862 million in July to $887 million in August. This was driven by a 12.8% increase in residential permits to $598 million, which offset a 13.0% drop in non-residential permits to $289 million.
B.C. was one of only two provinces that reported increased permits issued, with Newfoundland and Labrador seeing a 3.0% jump to $77.3 million. Canada-wide, the value dropped by 21.2% to $6.3 billion. This offsets the 21.4% increase seen the previous month. Overall, the trend in the value of building permits has remained stable since the beginning of 2013.
The provinces with the greatest decreases in the values of permits issued in August when compared with one month prior were:
- New Brunswick: down 32.5% to $53 million;
- Ontario: down 31.5% to $2.2 billion; and
- Prince Edward Island: down 30.4% to 14.4 million.
Year-over-year, the number of building permits issued in B.C. dipped by 0.8% - well below the national average of 15.2%. Manitoba had the biggest increase over this period, with a 60.6% increase to $296 million.
