Canada Construction
Research Brief

Interest rate stabilization could aid development activity. The total value of building permits in Canada declined 1.5 per cent month-over-month in July, which was mainly fueled by an 11.5 per cent drop in non-residential construction intentions. This comes after institutional permitting surged in June, as high-valued hospitals began the construction process. Despite this overall decline, residential construction intentions appear to gain further momentum as interest rate uncertainty is slowly mitigating and housing prices continue to trend up. Permitting activity rose 5.4 per cent monthly, with single-family construction intentions seeing a third consecutive monthly gain. Meanwhile, multifamily development intentions were up annually and only sat 5.8 per cent below last year’s peak.