Surprise Building-Permit Gain Shows Canadian Construction Strength

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian building permits ended 2018 with the biggest gain in nineteen months, beating expectations and adding to evidence of continued construction strength.

The value of permits rose 6 percent to C$8.8 billion ($6.7 billion) in December, Statistics Canada said Wednesday from Ottawa, the largest monthly gain since May 2017 and the fourth consecutive increase. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the value of construction permits to contract by 1 percent.

The surprise gain reinforces the changing focus of housing construction in Canada. The 4.2 percent gain in residential permits was largely driven by multiple unit housing, which jumped 11.1 percent to a record C$3.3 billion. Conversely, the value of permits for single-family dwellings dropped 5.4 percent.

Gains in commercial and industrial permits also contributed to the strong December tally, rising 14.6 percent and 11.9 percent respectively. Those increases brought the total value of non-residential permits up 8.9 percent to C$3.5 billion.

Consumption and residential housing in Canada have been markedly weakened amid higher interest rates and tighter mortgage rules. The strong end to 2018 for permits may partly allay concerns about deeper fallout for the construction industry from slowing residential resales.

Regionally, the value of permits in Vancouver rose 26.3 percent to C$1.4 billion, and Toronto permits increased 3.5 percent to C$1.6 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Hertzberg in Ottawa at eschmitzhert@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Stephen Wicary

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