Canadians did not build as much as hoped during March, according to figures released Thursday morning by Statistics Canada.
The nation`s number-crunchers reported that the value of building permits issued by municipalities in March fell 7% to $6.9 billion, which it attributed to a drop in the non-residential sector.
The decline came off the back of a 15.3% gain in February.
StatsCan put the value of building permits issued in the non-residential sector down 22.8% to $2.4 billion in March, following a 32% hike in the previous month.
The agency adds all three components of the non-residential sector fell, led by commercial buildings.
The value of permits for commercial buildings dropped 27.7%to $1.5 billion, while permits for institutional buildings slid 12.2% to $591 million.
The value of industrial building permits fell 17.1% per cent to $395 million.
Meanwhile, the value of residential permits rose 4.8% to $4.4 billion in March, with gains in seven provinces, led by Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
