Construction intentions in British Columbia’s residential sector have risen sharply over the past year, according to Statistics Canada data released April 9.
In February, a total of $707 million in residential building permits were issued, which represents a jump of 45.3% year-over-year. It is also a 17% increase compared with January.
Non-residential construction, however, dropped 33.4% over the past 12 months, with $193 million in permits being issued in February. This is up 18.7% compared with January.
In Vancouver alone, $612.6 million in total building permits – both residential and non-residential – were issued in February. This is an increase of 50.9% compared with January and 16.6% year-over-year.
Across Canada, building permits fell short of analysts’ expectations. The consensus expectation was for a 3.3% overall gain in February compared with one month before, said CIBC’s Nick Exarhos, but building intentions ended up falling 0.9% over the period. February saw a total of $6.1 billion worth of permits being issued country-wide.
As in B.C., however, residential intentions grew nationwide, with a 1.5% increase in the month. This was more than cancelled out by a 5.4% drop in non-residential permits.
Multiple unit building intentions increased 21%, offsetting a 10% decline in family home permits.
“That, and a still sizeable permit overhang, supports a rebound in housing starts for March due out tomorrow [April 10] morning, after chilly February helped influence a slow pace in building activity,” Exarhos said.
“Not much market reaction expected to this release.”
New housing prices were also released on the same day. The price of new homes in Vancouver fell 0.6% over the past year but grew 1.4% across the country.
