The value of permits issued for commercial buildings in B.C. has never been higher.
New commercial permits topped $564 million in November, a 130% increase over October, according to Statistics Canada. The agency reported that a $240-million permit for a new office tower in the Greater Vancouver region contributed most to the gain.
Total non-residential permits – which include commercial, institutional and industrial developments – reached nearly $742 million, a 75% increase over the month before.
B.C. accounted for most of the national increase in non-residential building permit values, which rose 11.6% in November to $3.3 billion.
Not all B.C. values rose.
Month to month, the value of permits for residential buildings fell 27% to $893 million. The decline was driven primarily by a drop in permit values for single family dwellings, which fell 30%.
Victoria, Vancouver among top national permit issuers
At the regional level, Victoria and Vancouver saw the third and fourth largest year-over-year gains for total permit values.
In Victoria, November values rose 72.6% over 2017. In Vancouver, they were up 63.4%.
Both regions were behind only Quebec, where values rose 177.3%, and Brantford, where values increased by 158.2%.
In total, Canadian municipalities issued $8.3 billion in building permits in November, up 2.6% from October and 6.6% over 2017.
