Canadian municipalities issued $6.1 billion worth of building permits in January, a 12.9 per cent drop from the month before, according to Statistics Canada. The double-digit decline followed the 6.1 per cent surge seen in December.
Construction intentions for non-residential buildings dropped 22.8 per cent to $2 billion in January, following the 15 per cent jump seen the month before.
On the residential side, the value of multi-family dwelling permits dropped 21 per cent to $1.5 billion in January, the fourth month in a row to record a decline. It was also the the lowest level seen since March 2013.
The January decline was a result of fewer construction intentions in nine provinces, with Ontario seeing the biggest drop (Saskatchewan was the only province to measure an uptick).
On the flip side, cities issued $2.6 billion worth of building permits for single-family homes in January, a 3.5 per cent boost over the previous month. Ontario and Quebec led the four provinces that measured monthly increases.
Overall, Canadian municipalities approved the building of 14,888 new homes, a 7.5 per cent decline from December. The drop was driven by multi-family dwellings: 8,510 units were approved, a 12.9 per cent fall from the previous month. The approval of single-family dwellings edged up, with the number of single-family dwellings approved rising 0.9 per cent to 6,378 units in January.
