Vancouver building permits decline off billion-dollar streak

OTTAWA – Building permits in Vancouver have dipped from a three-month streak where permit values were over $1 billion. 

The value of permits in the census area of metropolitan Vancouver fell 20.5 per cent in February 2019, down to $800 million.

The province of British Columbia also saw value fall to $1.4 billion in permits, a $181-million decline from January 2019. Lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings offset gains in other sectors.

Saskatchewan permit values also dipped 34 per cent to $108 million, with every component except institutional buildings in decline. The decrease was most significant in the single-family dwelling component and partially reflects recent changes to building energy codes which went into effect across the province on Jan. 1, according to a Statistics Canada release.

The release also noted single-family home permits have been in decline since 2013 and that in 2018 the province of Saskatchewan issued $596 million in single-family home permits, the lowest value since 2006.

Across Canada municipalities issued $7.8 billion in building permits in February, a decline of 5.7 per cent, mostly because of lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings, which declined 8.5 per cent in February to $4.9 billion, the lowest level since April 2017. This was largely due to declines in Ontario and British Columbia.