Municipalities issued $6.0 billion worth of building permits in March, down 3.0% from February and 5.5% lower than in March 2013.
Three provinces reported an increase in permits over a year ago. Double-digit increases were recorded in New Brunswick (+35.4%) and British Columbia (+16.5%). Double-digit annualized decreases over March 2013 occurred in five provinces. The largest year-over-year losses were recorded in Prince Edward Island (-51.5%), Saskatchewan (-29.5%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-28.6%). Quebec reported a 9.5% annualized increase while Ontario experienced a 1.6% decline.
Builders took out residential building permits worth $3.7 billion in March, up 1.0% from February and also 1.0% higher than in March 2013. Three provinces reported an annualized growth rate for residential permits: British Columbia (+8.9%), Quebec (+8.7%) and Ontario (+8.1%). Double-digit annualized decreases occurred in four provinces. The largest lose was recorded in Prince Edward Island (-48.7%) followed by Newfoundland and Labrador (-42.7%) and Nova Scotia (-36.4%).
Municipalities issued permits worth $1.6 billion for multi-family dwellings in March, up 7.9% from February and 11.4% higher than in March 2013. Month-over-month Increases were posted in most provinces with the largest gains reported in Ontario and British Columbia. Permits for single-family units decreased 3.6% from February to $2.1 billion and were down 5.7% over March 2013. This was the fourth decrease in the past five months and marked the lowest monthly level for single-family units since February 2011. Ontario and New Brunswick posted the largest monthly losses.
Municipalities approved 15,833 new dwellings in March, up 12.2% from February and 7.9% higher than in March 2013. There was an 1.2% monthly decrease and a 10.3% annualized loss in the number of single-family units, which totaled 5,642. There was a 21.2% monthly gain and a 21.5% annualized increase in the number of multi-family units approved, which totaled 10,191.
The value of non-residential permits in March lost 8.8% from February to $2.3 billion and decreased 14.2% from March 2013. From February to March, industrial permits fell 7.7% to $329 million and were down 27.9% from March 2013; institutional permits declined 31.3% from February to $467 million and were down 52.6% from a year earlier; while commercial sector permits gained 1.2% from February to $1.5 billion, up 21.0% from March 2013.