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December 01, 2021BUILDING PERMITS, OCTOBER 2021 Month over month (seasonally adjusted, Oct 2021 vs. Sep 2021)
Changes in monthly building permit values are typically very volatile, with large swings from one month to the next. Nova Scotia's total building permits (residential and non-residential) increased 0.8% to $190.6 million. Halifax permits decreased 9.4% to $102.7 million. Outside the city, permit values increased 15.9% to $88.0 million. National permits increased 1.3% to $10.29 billion. Building permit values were up in 5 of 10 provinces, led by New Brunswick and British Columbia. The largest decline was observed in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nova Scotia's residential building permits increased 4.8% to $137.1 million. Halifax residential permits decreased 4.2% to $75.8 million. Outside the city, residential permit values increased 18.7% to $61.3 million. National residential building permit values decreased 0.1% to $6.85 billion. Residential permit values were up in 7 of 10 provinces, led by New Brunswick. The largest decline was reported in Saskatchewan.
Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits decreased 8.3% to $53.5 million. Halifax permits decreased 21.3% to $26.8 million. Outside the city, non-residential permit values increased 9.9% to $26.7 million. National non-residential building permit values increased 4.2% to $3.44 billion. Non-residential permit values were up in 3 of 10 provinces, led by British Columbia and Ontario. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest decline.
Year-to-date (Jan-Oct 2021 vs. Jan-Oct 2019(pre-pandemic))
Nova Scotia's total building permits (residential and non-residential) increased 6.9% to $1,639.9 million. Halifax permits decreased 15.3% to $815.4 million. Outside the city, permit values increased 44.5% to $734.2 million. National permits increased 19.4% to $102.58 billion. Building permit values were up in 7 of 10 provinces, led by Quebec and Ontario. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest decline.
Nova Scotia's residential building permits increased 12.8% to $1,248.3 million. Halifax residential permits decreased 15.6% to $638.5 million. Outside the city, residential permit values increased 74.5% to $609.7 million. National residential building permit values increased 35.2% to $70.70 billion. Residential permit values were up in all provinces, led by New Brunswick and Quebec. British Columbia reported the smallest gain.
Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits decreased 8.4% to $391.6 million. Halifax permits decreased 14.1% to $176.9 million. Outside the city, non-residential permit values decreased 3.0% to $214.7 million. National non-residential building permit values decreased 5.3% to $31.87 billion. Non-residential permit values were down in 7 of 10 provinces, led by New Brunswick and Manitoba. Quebec reported the largest increase.
Overall building permit values in Nova Scotia increased from Jan-Oct 2019 to Jan-Oct 2021. This reflects an increase in residential permits outside the city, partially offset by declines in residential and non-residential permits in Halifax.
Trends
Nova Scotia building permit values increased in 2019, mainly due to rising residential permits in Halifax. Permit values trended down in late 2019 and the first half of 2020 but have been rising since then. There was a notable acceleration in building permit values towards the end of 2020, particularly in residential projects across the province. There has been an upward trend in residential and non-residential building permit values in Halifax in recent months.
Trends in residential permit values reflect the differences in housing markets for Halifax and the rest of the province. Halifax residential permits were more concentrated in multi-unit dwellings in 2019. Over the last two years, multi-unit building permits had declined in Halifax. Outside Halifax, single dwelling units make up the majority of building permit values, and these have been increasing sharply since the second half of 2020 (multi-unit permits outside Halifax were also up over this period).
Non-residential building permits have lower values than residential permits. Halifax non-residential building permits have been increasing in recent months. Commercial projects generally account for the bulk of non-residential building permit values. Commercial project building permit values have been declining outside Halifax since reaching a peak in mid-2019. In recent months there has been a decline in institutional/government building permit values outside of Halifax.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0066-01 Building permits, by type of structure and type of work (x 1,000)