OTTAWA — It looks as if Canada‘s house-building boom will continue into 2004 even if other construction sectors aren’t faring as well.

“Overall, builders took out $4.4 billion in building permits in January, down 0.9 per cent from December, and 1.4 per cent below the value of permits issued in January 2003,” Statistics Canada says.

However, “the momentum from last year’s record level of building permits for housing has spilled over into 2004,” the agency said.

“Municipalities issued almost $3 billion worth of building permits for housing in January, up 1.1 per cent from the previous high in December.

“This augurs well for a busy spring for workers in the residential construction sector, as permits are a leading indicator of building activity.” Low mortgage rates, employment strength and a high level of consumer confidence were cited as reasons.

In B.C., residential permits issued jumped by a record 19.4 per cent to $720 million. And the 12-month increase was 38.1 per cent. However, non-residential permits in B.C. also increased — by 55 per cent to $208 million.

Nationally, the value of non-residential permits fell by 4.9 per cent to $1.4 billion, as industrial, commercial and institutional all retreated — the third decline in the last four months.

“Demand remained high for single-family dwellings as municipalities authorized 10,740 new units,” the agency said. “This was higher than the monthly average of 10,200 units in 2003.

“On a year-over-year basis, permits for single-family dwellings were up six per cent from January 2003, while those for multi-family were up 17.7 per cent.

“In January alone, permits for 9,175 new multi-family units were issued, significantly higher than the average monthly level of 8,350 in 2003. A vast majority of the January permits were for new apartments and condominiums.”

© The Vancouver Province 2004