Municipalities issued building permits worth $5.7 billion in January, a 4.9% decline from December. However, this value was still 32.7% higher than the level in January 2009. The decline between December and January was due to a substantial drop in building intentions in the non-residential sector.
In the non-residential sector, contractors took out permits worth $1.7 billion in January, a 21.0% decline from December. This was largely the result of a drop in the commercial component. January's non-residential level was down 25.1% from the same month in 2009.
In the residential sector, the value of permits rose 4.1% to $4.0 billion, almost twice the value registered in January 2009. An increase in the value of permits for single-family dwellings between December and January more than offset a decline in multi-family dwellings.
The total value of construction intentions fell in five provinces and two territories in January, led by Alberta and British Columbia.
Residential sector: Higher intentions for single-family permits
Increases in seven provinces pushed the value of permits for single-family in January to $2.7 billion, up 7.2% from December. The value of single-family permits has been on an upward trend since March 2009.
In January, Municipalities issued $1.3 billion worth of permits for multi-family dwellings, down 1.7% from December. This decline followed two consecutive monthly increases. British Columbia registered the largest decline, followed by Alberta.
Nationally, municipalities approved the construction of 18,685 new dwellings in January, up 1.7% from December. The increase was largely attributable to single-family dwellings, which rose 6.9% to 9,285 units. The number of multiple-family dwellings approved fell 2.9% to 9,400.
Non-residential sector: Declines in the commercial and institutional components
In the commercial component, municipalities issued permits worth $982 million in January, a 28.3% decline from December. This followed three consecutive monthly increases. January's decrease was largely due to lower construction intentions for office buildings and recreational buildings in Alberta.
The value of institutional building permits decreased 15.3% to $439 million, as a result of declines in seven provinces. The largest decreases were in building permits for day care facilities and nursing homes, mainly in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick.
In the industrial component, intentions rose 9.4% to $256 million after two monthly declines. Ontario led the four provinces that posted higher construction intentions.
Largest declines in Alberta and British Columbia
The total value of building permits decreased in five provinces.
The largest decreases were posted by Alberta (-28.5%) and British Columbia (-22.5%), after both recorded gains in December. In Alberta, the decline was a result of lower intentions for commercial buildings and multiple-family dwellings. In British Columbia, decreases came from both the residential and non-residential sectors.
Ontario posted the largest gain as a result of increases in both the residential and non-residential sectors. In Quebec, the increase came from the residential sector.
Value of permits down in more than half of all metropolitan areas
The total value of permits fell in 18 of the 34 census metropolitan areas.
The largest declines were in Calgary, Vancouver and Greater Sudbury. In Calgary, the decrease came mainly from the commercial component, following a large increase in December.
Building permits in Vancouver fell in every component except for single dwellings. In Greater Sudbury, the decline came after strong increases in December, when contractors took out substantial amounts of permits prior to fee increases that took effect in January 2010.
By contrast, the largest gains were in Toronto and Montréal. In Toronto, the increase was due to gains in all components except for institutional permits. In Montréal, the increase came from the residential sector.