The value of residential building permits in Vancouver fell 12.5 per cent year over year to $340 million in December, according to Statistics Canada data released February 6.
This was despite what the City of Vancouver described as a record-breaking year for building permits, in which total residential and non-residential permit values rose 24.7 per cent year over year in December and 28 per cent in 2014 compared with 2013.
The increase in Vancouver’s total permit values can be attributed to a boom in office, commercial and industrial space construction intentions.
Across BC it was a different story, as residential construction permit values rose 22.5 per cent year over year in December to $643 million.
BC led the country in terms of its increase in single-family home building intentions. The report said, “Municipalities [across Canada] issued building permits for single-family dwellings worth $2.6 billion in December, up 8 per cent from November. Increases were reported in every province, led by British Columbia.”
The biggest local success story of the month belonged to Abbotsford-Mission, which saw a rise in residential permit values of a staggering 292 per cent year over year, at $15.6 million in December 2014 compared with $3.9 million the previous December.
Across Canada, total residential permit values rose 20 per cent year over year to $4.38 billion.
To view the full report and charts, click here.
