The value of building permits in Alberta’s two major cities took different paths in June.
According to data released on Wednesday by Statistics Canada, building permits totalled $500.7 million for the month in the Edmonton census metropolitan area. That was a month-over-month hike of 12.4 per cent and an annual gain of 12.6 per cent.
In the Calgary census metropolitan area, permits were valued at $446.7 million during the month, representing a decline of 16.9 per cent from May. But year over year, the value was up 4.7 per cent in the Calgary region.
For Alberta, the value of permits reached $1.2 billion in June – up 0.5 per cent from the previous month and 1.9 per cent higher than a year ago.
The overall climb in value was attributed to the non-residential sector, which saw the value jump by 32.7 per cent on a monthly basis and by 22.5 per cent annually to $556.4 million.
The residential sector in the province experienced declines of 16.6 per cent month over month and 10.8 per cent year over year to $659.1 million.
In Canada, overall building permit value fell to $8.1 billion in June – dropping by 2.3 per cent from May and by 5.6 per cent from May 2017.
The decline was due to a drop in the residential sector to $5.2 billion – down 5.7 per cent month over month and down 1.5 per cent year over year.
The non-residential sector across the country rose by 4.6 per cent month over month to $2.9 billion. However, it was off by 12.3 per cent from year-ago levels.
In Canada, the federal agency said the value of permits fell 1.8 per cent to $24.3 billion in the second quarter, following a 2.4 per cent rise in the first quarter.
“Despite the decline in the second quarter, the year-to-date value was $2.0 billion higher than the value of the first two quarters of 2017,” it said.
“The value of permits in the residential sector decreased 0.3 per cent in the second quarter to $15.8 billion. An increase in the value of permits for multi-family dwellings (+$377 million) almost offset a decline from the single-family dwelling component (-$420 million). In the non-residential sector, declines in the institutional and industrial components contributed to a 4.6 per cent drop in the second quarter, while the commercial component rose slightly.”
Respected business writer Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald in various capacities, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
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