The value of Vancouver's building permits was down 14.7% to $482.1 million in March compared with year-ago levels, according to Statistics Canada numbers released this morning.
Kelowna and Abbotsford-Mission's building permit totals decreased from March 2011 levels, posting 27.4% and 9.9% drops, respectively.
In Victoria, on the other hand, the value of the city's building permits rose 33.2% in March compared with the previous year.
Statistics Canada noted that construction intentions in B.C. were down 13.1% year over year to $736.8 million in March, pulled down by a 43.6% drop in the total value of non-residential building permits.
The federal statistics agency noted an even steeper drop in B.C. building intentions in March when compared to the previous month, with permit values falling 29.0% since February.
In Vancouver, permit values fell 1.4% since February while in Abbotsford-Mission they fell 25.0%. Victoria's construction intentions dropped 21.1% for the same time period.
Only in Kelowna was there a sharp increase in March compared with the previous month, with permit values rising 86.3%.
