According to the latest numbers from StatsCan, the total value of building permits in Canada declined 6.6% in July to $11.2 billion, mainly due to the residential sector, which fell 8.6% to $7.6 billion. The non-residential sector also dropped slightly by 2.1%.

On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total value of building permits decreased 4.8% to $6.9 billion.

Ontario pushes down residential sector

In July, residential permits decreased 8.6% to $7.6 billion nationally. Strong gains in British Columbia and Quebec were more than offset by weak construction intentions in six other provinces.

Construction intentions in the single-family homes component declined 5.7%, as decreases in Ontario (-13.9%) more than offset the gains in six provinces. Despite the decline, this component remained 14.8% higher than the same month of 2021.

The value of building permits in the multi-family homes component dropped 11.1%. Declines were posted in six provinces, with Ontario (-32.8%) reporting the largest decrease. Conversely, British Columbia had a number of permits for condos and apartments, pushing the province’s permits value up 9.3%.