Construction activity in the Vancouver region is looking dicey going into the fall, according to new data from Statistics Canada (StatCan).
Building permit values reached $802 million in Vancouver’s census metropolitan area in September 2024, a drop of 14.3 per cent from August 2024 and a drop of 40.8 per cent from September 2023, StatCan reported Nov. 12.
Building permit values reached $1.45 billion across B.C. in September, of which $1.04 billion was residential and $412 million was non-residential. That’s down 19.1 per cent from a month prior and 40.5 per cent from September 2023.
This is in stark contrast to building permit values for the country as a whole, which increased 11.5 per cent from August to September 2024, reaching $13 billion. That’s also up 11.7 per cent from September 2023, when there were $11.6 billion of residential and non-residential building permits.
Other provinces also outperformed B.C. in terms of growth.
In Ontario, permit values increased 25.8 per cent from the same month a year ago, and in Alberta, they increased 28 per cent from a year ago.
Residential permits include single-family and multi-family dwellings, and non-residential permits include permits for industrial, commercial, institutional and government buildings.
StatCan’s data is seasonally adjusted with current dollar values, facilitating month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations. The data is subject to revision based on late responses, methodological changes and classification updates.
Data on building permits for October 2024 will be released on Dec. 12.
