Canada Building Permits Decline 5.5% in August from July

OTTAWA – 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)