Municipalities issued $5.7 billion worth of building permits in December, down 11.2% from November and 16.2% lower than in December 2011.
The only province to report a growth in permits over a year earlier was Quebec
(+10.4%). Double-digit annualized decreases over December 2011 occurred in six provinces. Prince Edward Island suffered the largest loss (-53.4%) followed by New Brunswick (-44.6%) and Nova Scotia (+43.5%). Ontario experienced a 32.5% decline.
Builders took out residential building permits worth $3.3 billion in December, down 13.1% from November and 27.1% lower than in December 2011. Double-digit annualized decreases occurred in five provinces. The largest losses took place in Prince Edward Island (-61.5%), Ontario (-54.9%) and New Brunswick (-48.4%). Quebec’s annualized decline for residential permits was 4.2%. Only Manitoba (+5.3%) and Alberta (+2.4%) experienced positive growth over December 2011.
Municipalities issued permits worth $1.1 billion for multi-family dwellings in December, down 24.6% from November and 41.0% lower than in December 2011. The decline from November to December was the sixth consecutive monthly decrease and the lowest level since February 2011. There were losses in all provinces, with Ontario posting the largest decrease, followed by Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba. Permits for single-family units decreased 5.3% from November to $2.1 billion and were down 16.5% over December 2011. This was the fifth monthly decline in the past six months. The downturn was again mostly attributable to lower construction intentions in Ontario, followed by Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Only Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador posted gains.
Municipalities approved 13,897 new dwellings in December, down 15.2% from November and 27.3% lower than in December 2011. There was a 4.9% monthly decrease and a 16.5% annualized loss in the number of single-family units, which totaled 6,267. There was a 22.1% monthly loss and a 34.3% annualized decrease in the number of multi-family units approved, which totaled 7,630.
The value of non-residential permits in December fell 8.5% from November to $2.5 billion but increased 4.7% from December 2011. From November to December, industrial permits lost 3.3% to $377 million; institutional permits fell 5.3% to $498 million; and commercial sector permits were down 10.6% to $1.6 billion.