Canada Building Permits Decline 5.5% in August from July

Canadian building permits declined in August from the previous month on weaker demand to build condominiums and nonresidential properties.

The total value of building permitsissued by Canadian municipalities declined 5.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis to 7.54 billion Canadian dollars ($6.01 billion) in August, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Market expectations were not immediately available.

July's building-permits data were revised upward and now suggest permits fell 2.8% versus the earlier estimate of a 3.5% drop.

On a year-over-year basis, permits issued rose 0.6%.

Building permits are meant to provide an early indication of construction activity in Canada and are based on a survey of 2,400 municipalities, representing 95% of the country's population. A permit gives a contractor the right to build but doesn't necessarily suggest construction has commenced. This data tend to be volatile on a month-over-month basis.

According to the permits report, residential permits fell 2.8% to C$4.87 billion, on a 6% drop in multiple family units. Meanwhile non-residential permits -- covering factories, retail space and government buildings -- dropped 10% to C$2.67 billion.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 10, 2017 09:26 ET (13:26 GMT)