Government of Nova Scotia, Canada

Home > Economics and Statistics > Archived Daily Stats
The Economics and Statistics Division maintains archives of previous publications for accountability purposes, but makes no updates to keep these documents current with the latest data revisions from Statistics Canada. As a result, information in older documents may not be accurate. Please exercise caution when referring to older documents. For the latest information and historical data, please contact the individual listed to the right.

<--- Return to Archive

For additional information relating to this article, please contact:

Thomas StorringDirector – Economics and Statistics
Tel: 902-424-2410Email: thomas.storring@novascotia.ca

December 05, 2022
BUILDING PERMITS, OCTOBER 2022

Month over month (seasonally adjusted, Oct 2022 vs. Sep 2022)

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) decreased 29.3% to $189.0 million. Halifax permits decreased 36.0% to $120.0 million. Outside the city, permit values decreased 13.6% to $69.0 million. National permits decreased 1.4% to $9.99 billion. Building permit values were up in 3 of 10 provinces, led by Manitoba and British Columbia. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest declines.

Nova Scotia's residential building permits decreased 42.3% to $135.0 million. Halifax residential permits decreased 51.8% to $82.1 million. Outside the city, residential permit values decreased 16.6% to $52.9 million. National residential building permit values decreased 6.4% to $6.51 billion. Residential permit values were up in 3 of 10 provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island reported the largest declines.


Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits increased 61.6% to $54.0 million. Halifax permits increased 123.6% to $37.9 million. Outside the city, non-residential permit values decreased 2.1% to $16.1 million. National non-residential building permit values increased 9.5% to $3.49 billion. Non-residential permit values were up in 5 of 10 provinces, led by Nova Scotia and Ontario. Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island reported the largest declines.

 Year-to-date (Jan-Oct 2022 vs. Jan-Oct 2021)

Nova Scotia's total building permits (residential and non-residential) increased 19.8% to $2,210.3 million. Halifax permits increased 34.8% to $1,374.2 million. Outside the city, permit values increased 1.3% to $836.1 million. National permits increased 9.5% to $114.42 billion. Building permit values were up in 8 of 10 provinces, led by British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba reported declines.

Nova Scotia's residential building permits increased 27.9% to $1,781.8 million. Halifax residential permits increased 44.2% to $1,100.4 million. Outside the city, residential permit values increased 8.2% to $681.4 million. National residential building permit values increased 5.7% to $75.90 billion. Residential permit values were up in 6 of 10 provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia. Manitoba and Prince Edward Island reported the largest declines.

Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits decreased 5.3% to $428.5 million. Halifax permits increased 6.7% to $273.8 million. Outside the city, non-residential permit values decreased 20.9% to $154.7 million. National non-residential building permit values increased 17.9% to $38.52 billion. Non-residential permit values were up in 7 of 10 provinces, led by British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia reported the largest declines.

Overall building permit values in Nova Scotia increased in the first ten months of 2022 compared with January-October 2021. This reflects an increase in all residential and non-residential permit types across the province, with the exception of multiple dwelling buildings and institutional/government buildings outside the Halifax, and industrial buildings in the province.

Trends

Overall building permit values have been on a rising trend since the middle of 2021, mostly driven by the rise in residential permit values (within Halifax as well as outside the city). After growing at the end of 2021, Nova Scotia's non-residential building permit values have trended down since the beginning of 2022. Non-residential permit values have trended down in 2022 for Halifax as well as for the rest of the province.

Trends in residential permit values reflect the differences in housing markets for Halifax and the rest of the province.  In Halifax, growth in permit values for multi-unit dwellings has outpaced growth in single-dwelling unit permits. Outside the city the situation is reversed, with stronger growth in single dwelling unit permit values than in multi-unit structures.

Non-residential building permits have lower values than residential permits. After rising in late 2021, values for Halifax commercial and industrial building permits have declined. Outside the city, permits are trending down in 2022 for all three categories of non-residential building: commercial, industrial and government/institutional.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0066-01 Building permits, by type of structure and type of work (x 1,000)



<--- Return to Archive