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 per cent 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 per cent increase over the month before.
B.C. accounted for most of the national increase in non-residential building permit values, which rose 11.6 per cent in November to $3.3 billion.
Year over year, the District of Squamish has definitely seen an increase in its non-residential permits issued and construction values.
Locally there were 47 commercial, 15 industrial and nine institutional permits issued from Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2018, according to the District. Combined, those permits totalled close to $40,579,000 in construction.
In 2017, 39 commercial, seven industrial and two institutional permits were issued for the year, for a total of just over $11,000,000.
Thus, Squamish saw a 73 per cent increase in 2018 over 2017 in construction values.
Looking provincially again, not all B.C. values rose.
Month to month, the value of permits for residential buildings fell 27 per cent to $893 million. The decline was driven primarily by a drop in permit values for single family dwellings, which fell 30 per cent.
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 per cent over 2017. In Vancouver, they were up 63.4 per cent.
Both regions were behind only Quebec, where values rose 177.3 per cent, and Brantford, where values increased by 158.2 per cent.
In total, Canadian municipalities issued $8.3 billion in building permits in November, up 2.6 per cent from October and 6.6 per cent over 2017.
~With files from Jennifer Thuncher/The Squamish Chief
