The pace of building in Canada eased off for the third straight month in April, according to figures released Wednesday morning by Statistics Canada.
The agency reported that Canadian municipalities issued $7.1 billion worth of building permits in April, down 0.2% from March., attributing much of the slide to lower construction intentions for single-family dwellings.
StatsCan added that construction intentions for single-family dwellings fell 8.1% in April to $2.5 billion. The decrease stemmed primarily from single-detached homes in Ontario, specifically the Toronto census metropolitan area, while five other provinces also reported declines in the single-family building component.
On the other side of the coin, multi-family dwelling construction intentions rose 5.6% in April to just under $2.0 billion, largely due to gains in seven provinces, led by British Columbia. The increase followed a 21.1% drop in March and was moderated by a notable decline in the apartment building category in Alberta.
Canadian municipalities approved the construction of 16,701 new dwellings in April (down 0.7% compared with March), consisting of 6,015 single units (-1.5%) and 10,686 multi-family units (-0.2%).
