(OTTAWA) The value of building permits issued in October fell to $10 billion, Statistics Canada said on Monday, a drop mainly attributable to the residential sector.
This decline represents a drop of 19.4% since the record high of 12.4 billion reached in August. This is a decline of 6.3% compared to October 2021.
The value of permits issued in the residential sector fell 6.4% in one month to 6.5 billion in October nationally. The 9.3% drop in the number of new single-family dwellings, for a fifth consecutive month, partly explains the 4.6% drop in the number of new residential units.
In the non-residential sector, the total value of building permits rose 9.5% to $3.5 billion in October.
Construction intentions increased more in the commercial component (18%) than in the industrial one (16.2%).
This increase is mainly attributable to Ontario, where the value of non-residential building permits totaled $1.5 billion in October. A $114 million water and sewer project in Erin is part of the reason.
Institutional construction continued to slow, falling 17.1% in October. At 615.9 million, this is the lowest value since May 2020.
In Quebec, the total value of building permits in October stood at $1.8 billion, down 22.9% from the same month last year. In New Brunswick, it was 142.3 million, up 12.9% from October 2021.
The increases in New Brunswick are mainly due to three industrial projects worth more than $5 million each.
Prince Edward Island saw a sharp drop of 46.8% year-on-year, to a value of 17.6 million. Building permits totaled 189.0 million in Nova Scotia and 32.3 million in Newfoundland and Labrador, a decrease of 12.0%.
In Montreal, the value of building permits stood at 711.4 million in October, down 41.2% compared to the same month last year. Toronto saw a slight positive monthly change of 2% for a value of 1.56 billion, down 18.6% from a year ago.