July permits dip after strong June
By Adam Freill
Commercial Construction Industrial Institutional ResidentialImpact of hospital permits felt as institutional sector figures factor into monthly reporting; overall values come in 4.4 per cent higher than July of 2022.
Building permits, July 2023. (Source: Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0066-01, Building permits, by type of structure and type of work.)
A high value of hospital permits issued in June made July’s month-to-month comparison look weak in comparison, but July’s year-over-year performance in most tracked segments showed gains in value in the latest building permit figures released by Statistics Canada.
Across all segments, the total monthly value of building permits in Canada declined 1.5 per cent in July, despite a monthly gain of 5.4 per cent in the residential sector. This past July’s consolidated figures landed at $11.7 billion, a gain of almost a half-billion over the same month last year as permit values came in 4.4 per cent higher than July of 2022.
The total monthly value of non-residential permits dipped by 11.5 per cent to $4.3 billion in July, as strength in the institutional component in June saw that segment fall by almost 20 per cent in July, to $1.3 billion. Construction intentions in the commercial component were also down, falling 10.8 per cent to $1.9 billion, while the industrial component posted a more modest decline, feeling a one per cent shave to come in at $1.1 billion.
On a year-over-year basis, July’s permit values in the non-residential sector are up almost 15 per cent over what was reported in July of 2022.
The total monthly value of residential permits increased 5.4 per cent in July, coming in at $7.4 billion. Ontario’s 23.9 per cent gain contributed the most to the rise seen in the values of both single-family and multi-family dwelling permits.
Across Canada, July marked the third consecutive monthly increase in single-family home permits, up 7.6 per cent to $2.8 billion. This prolonged uptick followed a year of trending decline in construction intentions for single-family homes from May 2022 to April 2023.
Permit values for multi-family dwellings were up 4.1 per cent over June’s figures, hitting $4.6 billion, with the sector’s construction intentions gaining ground in Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Across Canada, permits for 22,300 new dwellings were issued in July. This amounts to a cumulative total of 150,400 new intended units in 2023, 10.9 per cent less than the 168,800 new intended units from permits issued from January to July 2022.
