OCS reports strong permit values as of August

TORONTO — The latest Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS) newsletter reported Ontario construction permit values grew across all ICI sectors as of August 2022, with significant monthly and yearly gains for institutional permits.

Year-to-date permit values remained above 2021 levels for the period of January to August 2022. The original source was Statistics Canada. Permit values represented the period up to August while employment numbers reflected the period up to September.

The newsletter reported while both construction employment and labour force saw record numbers in July and August, both decreased slightly in September. The labour force decreased in size from a record high of 628,300 to 616,500.

Employment also decreased from 612,000 to 599,600 in September, the OCS reported. Despite the decrease, labour force and employment numbers were still higher than any point before June 2022.

The unemployment rate increased slightly from 2.6 to 2.8 per cent but remained well below the overall Ontario unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent.

In contrast to the decrease experienced in July 2022, ICI permit values in August 2022 increased across all sectors, both month-over-month and year-over-year. Total ICI permit values increased by 76.4 per cent from July 2022 ($1.28 billion to $2.25 billion) and by 70.2 per cent compared to August 2021 ($1.32 billion to $2.25 billion).

In the commercial sector, permits values increased month-over-month by 28.9 per cent up to August ($857 million to $1.104 billion) and increased year-over-year by 21.8 per cent ($906.5 million to $1.104 billion).

Industrial permit values experienced a monthly increase of 115.2 per cent ($253.3 million to $545.1 million in August) and a yearly increase of 118.7 per cent ($249.3 million to $545.1 million). Institutional permits values increased substantially, with a monthly increase of 259.4 per cent ($168.4 million to $605.2 million in August) and an almost identical yearly increase of 259.1 per cent ($168.5 million to $605.2 million).

The change in institutional permit values is the largest monthly and yearly percentage increase since December 2019. This indicates a large increase in future building activity in the institutional sector, said the OCS.