Residential building permits in Canada decline in March amid weakness in multi-unit projects

Ottawa —
The value of residential building permits in Canada declined by 3.3% in March, reaching 8 billion dollars, affected by a decrease in multi-unit residential project activity in Ontario and Quebec.

The decline mainly came from the multi-family buildings sector, whose permit value dropped by 4.9% during the month to 5.3 billion dollars.

In contrast, single-family home permits remained almost stable at 2.7 billion dollars, with a balance between gains in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia and a decline in Alberta.

Ontario recorded the largest decrease in multi-family unit building intentions, followed by Quebec, while gains in British Columbia and Nova Scotia helped mitigate the national decline.

Despite the weakness in March, the performance of the first quarter remained better than the previous quarter, as the value of residential permits rose by 2.4%, supported by improved building intentions in Ontario and Quebec.

During the first quarter, approval was given for the construction of 68,500 residential units in Canada, compared to 71,000 units in the same period last year.