After four months of contraction, the seasonally adjusted value of building permits issued by Alberta municipalities* rose by 33 per cent in July. Permit value was, however, still down by 9 per cent compared to July 2019.

The cumulative value of permits over the first seven months of the year was down by $661 million (-10 per cent) compared to the same period last year.

The value of residential construction permits grew by 15 per cent in July compared to a jump of 69 per cent for non-residential permits.

Non-residential construction, however, lost more ground during the lockdown than the residential sector. As a result, the year-to-date value of non-residential permits was down by 15 per cent ($413 million) compared to 6 per cent ($248 million) for residential construction.

On a year-to-date basis, institutional and government sector permit value was actually up by 22  per cent ($118 million) in July while industrial permits were down by 32 per cent ($149 million) and commercial projects were off by 23 per cent ($382 million).

Nationally, declines in British Columbia, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador pushed the value of permits down by 3 per cent in July. The year-to-date total was off by 9 per cent ($5.1 billion).

*Statistics Canada’s Building Permits Survey covers all Canadian municipalities that issue permits.