Canada Building Permits Fall 7.3% in February

The value of building permits in Canada dropped 7.3 percent from a month earlier to CAD 8.6 billion in February 2020, following a downwardly revised 3.3 percent gain in January. The value of residential permits fell 7.3% to CAD 5.3 billion, mainly due to a decline in permits for multi-family dwellings (-18.1%); while the value of permits for single-family dwellings increased (8.3%), boosted by housing developments in Ontario, bringing the value of permits in the province to its highest level since December 2017. In addition, the value of non-residential permits declined 7.3% to CAD 3.2 billion, due to industrial (-25.3%), institutional (-4.5%) and commercial permits (-2.2%). The National Statistical Office in the context of the coronavirus pandemic also released March 2020 preliminary estimates of building permits. On a non-seasonally adjusted yearly basis, the value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities is expected to fall 23.2% to CAD 1.4 billion in March 2020.