Canada's building permits plummet 11.7% in March

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Building permits in Canada plummeted 11.7% in March to $10.5 billion, according to the country's statistical authority on Monday.

The market expectation for the figure was to show a 4.6% decline.

The figure for February was revised down to a gain of 8.9% from 9.3%.

Construction in the non-residential sector declined 16.7% to $4 billion, while the residential sector decreased 8.3% to $6.5 billion, Statistics Canada said in a statement.

"The total value of building permits in the first quarter of 2024 was $33.4 billion, a 3.7% increase from the previous quarter of $32.2 billion," it said.

In the first quarter of this year, construction in the non-residential sector increased 6.9% to $13 billion.

This was led by the commercial sector with a gain of 22.3% that reached $6.6 billion in January-March period, which posted the highest level of the previous four quarters.