Canada’s building permits surge 17.0 percent in September

Statistics Canada announced on Thursday that the value of building permits issued by the Canadian municipalities climbed 17.0 percent m-o-m in September, following a revised 1.4 percent m-o-m advance in August (originally a gain of 1.7 percent m-o-m). This was the largest gain in the value of building permits since March 2009.

According to the report, the value of residential permits rose 6.9 percent m-o-m in September, as single-family permits jumped by 8.9 percent m-o-m, while permits for multi-family dwellings increased by 5.2 percent m-o-m.

At the same time, the value of non-residential building permits surged 40.6 percent m-o-m in September, due to climbs in industrial (+49.1 percent m-o-m), commercial (+42.3 percent m-o-m) and institutional (+30.2 percent m-o-m) permits.

In y-o-y terms, building permits increased 10.6 percent in September.

In the third quarter of 2020, the value of building permits jumped 16.5 percent, almost returning to levels seen in the fourth quarter of 2019. This was the largest gain since the fourth quarter of 2009 when the economy was recovering from the 2008 financial crisis.