Calgary leads nation in building permit growth
June value up 16.6% from May
CALGARY — Calgary saw the country’s largest increase in June in the total value of building permits, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Wednesday that estimated building permit value was $537.7 million for the Calgary region, up 16.6 per cent from May and a year-over-year hike of 36.0 per cent.
“Following a 41.0 per cent decline in May, the value of permits issued in Calgary advanced largely as a result of higher construction intentions for commercial buildings and multi-family dwellings,” it said.
Tom Dixon, business development manager for real estate and logistics with Calgary Economic Development, said there has been an increase in activity recently in the non-residential sector in Calgary.
“The principal factor is there is a very low vacancy rate and there’s low availability in both the industrial portfolio and in downtown office space. The Class A office space in particular is in very short supply,” said Dixon.
According to Statistics Canada, the residential sector in Calgary saw a 3.7 per cent increase in building permits from May to $344.5 million while the non-residential sector was up 49.65 per cent to $193.2 million.
In Alberta, total building permits of $1.4 billion were down 0.4 per cent on a monthly basis but up 24.3 per cent year-over-year.
The residential sector in the province saw a monthly decrease of 10.4 per cent to $757.9 million. However, that was up 15.8 per cent from last year.
The non-residential sector in Alberta jumped to $645.4 million, up 14.7 per cent from May and a hike of 36.1 per cent from June 2012.
Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial, said a dip in residential permits in June in Alberta was almost exactly offset by a rise in non-residential permits.
“Residential building in our province has been consistently strong in 2013, so a small pull-back, as occurred in June, is neither unusual or cause for alarm,” he said. “The steady inflow of job-seeking migrants to the province this year has kept the demand for housing at a healthy level.”
He said non-residential building permits are much more volatile month-to-month but in June developers in the province continued to find market opportunities in office buildings, stores and restaurants.
“Building permits are an excellent forward-looking indicator of the actual construction activity that can be expected in the coming months,” added Hirsch. “The overall message . . . is that Alberta’s construction sector remains in excellent shape.”
Across Canada, contractors took out building permits worth $6.6 billion in June, down 10.3 per cent from May and the first decrease in six months. It was also off 4.8 per cent from June 2012.
After three consecutive monthly increases, the total value of permits in the residential sector declined 12.9 per cent to $4.0 billion in June. That was also down 10.8 per cent from a year ago.
In the non-residential sector, the total value of building permits decreased 6.1 per cent to $2.7 billion in June. But that was up 5.8 per cent from last year.
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