Widespread plans to build apartment buildings and condominiums lifted the value of Canadian building permits in April by 10.5% from March, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday, defying market expectations of a 4% drop in permits.
It was the fourth straight month of gains in building permits, an early indicator of construction activity, after a downturn that began in mid-2012. Statscan revised its March data down to a 6% rise in permits from 8.6% previously.
The unexpected strength in permits issued in April, reaching $7 billion, comes as other data suggest the country's once-hot housing market is cooling.
The overall value of residential permits jumped 21%. Multi-family housing projects surged 51.9%, led by plans to build apartments and condominiums in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, home to cities with the hottest condo markets.
Permits for single-family homes edged up 1.1% as gains in those three provinces were offset by declines in seven others.
The condo market in some of Canada's biggest cities has been a source of concern for policymakers who have repeatedly warned of overbuilding. Forecasters in a Reuters poll last Thursday predicted, on average, a soft landing for the Canadian housing market and expected home prices to fall 5% in the next few years.
In the non-residential sector, the agency said permits fell 3.6% as a gain in the commercial component was offset by a decline in intentions for both institutional and industrial buildings.
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