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According to the Statistics Canada quarterly review, in the first quarter of 2026 the total value of building permits increased $445.7 million to $39 billion, up 1.1 percent from the previous quarter. The total value of building permits was up 0.5 percent to $35.6 billion. The residential sector grew $514.5 million (up 2.4 percent) to $22.2 billion in the first quarter. The single-family component increased $349.8 million to $7.4 billion after four consecutive quarterly declines. Gains in single-family construction intentions were driven by Ontario (up $142.8 million) and Quebec (up $110.6 million). Multi-family construction intentions were up $164.7 million to $14.6 billion in the first quarter, with Ontario (up $392.3 million) and Quebec (up $186.1 million) leading the increase. Alberta (down $548.0 million) moderated the gains. Nationwide, a total of 68,500 single-family and multi-family units were authorized for construction in the first quarter, down from the 71,000 units authorized during the same period one year earlier. Non-residential construction intentions decreased $347.4 million to $13.4 billion in the first quarter. The commercial component fell $813.7 million to $5.8 billion, marking the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2020. The decline recorded in the first quarter of 2026 was supported by the institutional component (down $403.9 million). Meanwhile, the industrial component (up $870.2 million) tempered declines.
In March, the total value of building permits issued in Canada increased $1.3 billion (up 10.3 percent) to $13.5 billion. The increase in construction intentions was led by the non-residential sector (up $1.5 billion) and tempered by the residential sector (down $270.6 million). The total value of building permits issued in March rose 10.1 percent from the previous month and was up 4.8 percent on a year-over-year basis. Residential construction intentions in March decreased $270.6 million (down 3.3 percent) to $8 billion. The national decline was driven by the multi-family component, which fell $270.9 million to $5.3 billion. The single-family component saw virtually no change month over month and remained at $2.7 billion. The decline in the multi-family component in March was driven by Ontario (down $393.1 million) and Quebec (down $163.5 million). Meanwhile, gains in British Columbia (up $90.7 million), Nova Scotia (up $83.8 million) and four other provinces and one territory tempered the decline. In the single-family component, a large decline in Alberta (down $65.9 million) in March was offset by increases in Ontario (up $33.2 million), Saskatchewan (up $22.9 million) and British Columbia (up $19.4 million), leading to stagnant construction intentions in March.