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January 09, 2024BUILDING PERMITS, NOVEMBER 2023 Monthly (seasonally adjusted, Nov 2023 vs. Oct 2023)
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) increased 5.9% to $286.8 million. Halifax permits increased 16.5% to $183.7 million. Outside the city, permit values decreased 8.9% to $103.1 million. National permits declined 3.9% to $10.87 billion. Building permit values were up in 7 of 10 provinces, led by New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Ontario reported the largest decline.
Nova Scotia's residential building permits increased 18.5% to $227.0 million. Halifax residential permits increased 30.4% to $153.8 million. Outside the city, residential permit values decreased 0.5% to $73.2 million. National residential building permit values decreased 2.8% to $6.96 billion. Residential permit values were up in 8 of 10 provinces, led by New Brunswick. British Columbia reported the largest decline.
Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits decreased 24.6% to $59.8 million. Halifax permits decreased 24.8% to $29.9 million. Outside the city, non-residential permit values decreased 24.5% to $29.9 million. National non-residential building permit values decreased 5.8% to $3.91 billion. Non-residential permit values were up in 5 of 10 provinces, led by British Columbia. Ontario reported the largest decline.
Year-to-date (January-November 2023 vs January-November 2022)
Nova Scotia's total building permits (residential and non-residential) increased 9.0% in the first eleven months of the year. Halifax permits increased 2.1% and outside the city permit values decreased 8.9%. National permits increased 20.9%. Building permit values were down in 4 of 10 provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan reported the largest gain.
In January-November 2023, Nova Scotia's residential building permits decreased 5.3%. Halifax residential permits decreased 13.7% and outside the city residential permit values increased 9.0%. National residential building permit values decreased 9.1%. Residential permit values were down in seven provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador. Saskatchewan reported the largest gain.
Nova Scotia's non-residential building permits increased 65.0%, year-to-date. Halifax permits increased 62.7% and outside the city non-residential permit values increased 69.0%. National non-residential building permit values increased 11.2%. Non-residential permit values were up in 7 of 10 provinces, led by Nova Scotia. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia reported declines.
Overall building permit values in Nova Scotia increased in the first eleven months of 2023 compared with January-November 2023. There was a decrease in both single and multiple unit residential permits in Halifax. Non-residential permit values were up year-to-date in all non-residential permit types across 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 rising sharply since 2020, residential permit values started to trend down near the end of 2022. Even so, residential permit values both in Halifax and outside the city are above pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2022 and in the first eleven months of 2023.
After growing at the end of 2021, Nova Scotia's non-residential building permit values had trended down from the beginning of 2022 to the start of 2023 before trending up in recent months. Non-residential permit values have trended up in recent months in Halifax with an upward trend since the middle of 2022 in 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, Halifax values for industrial building permits had declined and are rising again in recent months. Halifax commercial building permits have been trending down and institutional/government building permits are trending up in recent months. Outside the city, permits were trending up since the end of 2022 and reached to their peak in recent months, particularly for commercial projects.
Note: Statistics Canada has replaced this table 34-10-0066 by table 34-10-0285. The information from January 2017 onwards that was in table 34-10-0066 is still available in the new table, except for the constant dollar series which have been rebased to 2017 = 100.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0285-01 Building permits, by type of structure and type of work (x 1,000)
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