Building permits at their lowest since February 2009

Building permits fell 5.1% in January compared to the month before. According to Statistics Canada, the decline was due to lower construction intentions particularly for the residential sector in Ontario, and for the non-residential sector in Alberta and British Columbia.

In the non-residential sector the value of permits fell more than 13% to $1.7 billion. This was the third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since February 2009. The industrial component represented a drop of 33.5%, as a result of lower intentions for utilities and transportation buildings in Alberta and Ontario. Institutional building permits decreased by 19.4 %, largely due to lower construction intentions for religious buildings in Ontario and Saskatchewan, and for day care and nursing homes in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

In the commercial component, (the largest at $1.0 billion) the fall in applications was only 1.7% less than in December.