Vancouver shows country’s biggest gains in value of building permits
Brian Morton
Sun
Building confidence: Vancouver the clear leader Vancouver was in a league of its own as far as the percentage increase in value of building permits taken out in major Canadian cities in 2004. Even No. 2 Montreal, which came in at 18.3 per cent, didn’t come close. Value of building permits by city, % increase 2003 vs. 2004:
Vancouver and B.C. led the country last year in the growth of the value of building permits as the demand for new homes soared, a Statistics Canada survey said Monday.
“This says that the construction industry was going very well in B.C., probably because of the general trend in the economy itself,” StatsCan spokesman Michel Labonte said in an interview. “In Vancouver there was a big increase in the residential component.”
Municipalities issued a record high value of building permits for the second straight year, as demand for new dwellings climbed across Canada in 2004.
The new record of $55.4 billion for Canada was 9.1 per cent higher than the previous high of $50.8 billion set in 2003.
“The largest growth in dollars occurred in Quebec and British Columbia, which was due mainly to vigorous activity in Montreal and Vancouver,” the report said. “These two centres recorded the largest increases [in dollars] among the metropolitan areas . . . . In Vancouver, the gain came from several projects for new multi-family dwellings and from strong growth in the non-residential sector.”
B.C. recorded a 23.9-per-cent increase in the value of building permits — the highest of any Canadian province — from $6.39 billion in 2003 to $7.92 billion in 2004. The residential component rose 29.7 per cent, while the non-residential component rose 10 per cent, also the highest in the nation.
In the municipal survey, the city of Vancouver led all municipalities by recording a 31.7-per-cent increase in the value of permits, from $3.68 billion in 2003 to $4.84 billion in 2004.
The value of building permits in Victoria was down 5.9 per cent over the year, from $568 million in 2003 to $535 million in 2004.
Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, said the 2004 StatsCan figures for B.C. and Vancouver come as no surprise.
“We had the best year for housing starts in a decade,” Simpson said. “And we’re expected to improve on that in 2005.”
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. predicts that the Lower Mainland will see 20,000 new homes built in 2005, up from 19,435 in 2004, Simpson said.
“The increase will be marginal, but over all, B.C. will be the only province in Canada to record an increase in housing starts in 2005,” Simpson said.
John Les, provincial minister of small business and economic development, said in a news release that the StatsCan figures show a growing confidence in the provincial economy.
“This is yet another indication of the optimism people have in the B.C. economy,” Les said. “This astonishing increase in permit values, in just one year, tells me that builders, consumers and investors alike are confident that B.C. is back.”
He said the overall value of B.C. building permits is 60 per cent higher than it was in 2001.
StatsCan said the annual level of permits has now increased across Canada for nine straight years, with permits in the housing sector totalling a record $36.7 billion across the country, up 14.7 per cent from the previous peak in 2003.
The agency said the year ended on a strong note in December as the value of permits hit $5.1 billion, up 1.6 per cent from November for the third consecutive monthly gain.
The survey attributed 2004’s strong performance in the housing sector to low mortgage rates, gains in full-time jobs, strong consumer confidence and tight vacancy rates in large centres such as Vancouver and Montreal.
The agency’s building permits survey covers 2,350 municipalities representing more than nine out of 10 Canadians.
BUILDING CONFIDENCE: VANCOUVER THE CLEAR LEADER:
Vancouver was in a league of its own as far as the percentage increase in value of building permits taken out in major Canadian cities in 2004. Even No. 2 Montreal, which came in at 18.3 per cent, didn’t come close.
Value of building permits by city, % increase 2003 vs. 2004:
Vancouver —- +31.7%
Edmonton —- +14.8%
Calgary —- +2.1%
Regina —- -8.9%
Winnipeg —- +8.4%
Toronto —- +4.3%
Montreal —- +18.3%
Halifax —- +7.1%
© The Vancouver Sun 2005