Canada Building Permits Recover in December, Rising 6.8%

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--Canadian building permits recovered in the final month of last year, capping the strongest quarter for construction intentions in four years, thanks to growth in residential building intentions.

The total value of building permits increased 6.8% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 12.84 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of US$9.47 billion, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

The advance was slightly stronger than the 5% rise expected for the month by economists, and follows a 13.2% drop in the value of permits in November. On a year-over-year basis, the overall value of permits issued was down 3.6% to end 2025.

Growth in December was led by the residential sector, and plans for multi-unit homes in particular, though with support from non-residential permits.

Building permits provide an early indication of construction activity in Canada and are based on a survey of 2,400 municipalities, representing 95% of the country's population. The issuance of a permit doesn't guarantee that construction is imminent.

Housing starts ended last year on a strong note but are forecast to lose momentum over the coming years, as developers contend with high building costs, weaker demand and a rising inventory of unsold units. Nationally, starts on new home construction totaled 259,028 in 2025, the fifth highest annual figure on record and up 5.6% compared to 2024, data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. showed. The housing agency projects starts will slow this year to 243,000, and to 223,000 in 2027 and 216,000 the year after.

Statistics Canada said construction intentions in the residential sector for December were up 7.1% to C$8.01 billion worth of permits, through the value was down 11.8% from a year earlier. Permits for single-family homes were down 4.6% between November and December, but jumped 13.4% for multifamily dwellings.

Permits for nonresidential buildings were up 6.3% in December at C$4.82 billion, the agency said. The rise was driven by a 31.5% increase in institutional permits, which countered a 6.3% fall in industrial building permits and a 3.0% decline in commercial permits.

For the fourth quarter of last year, the overall value of building permits increased by roughly C$3.7 billion to C$38.7 billion, the largest quarterly increase since the last quarter of 2021. The growth largely came from the residential sector, where intentions increased by about C$2.4 billion to C$24 billion.

The value of all building permits over 2025 increased some C$3.3 billion to C$149.7 billion, though on a constant-dollar basis the value declined 1.3% as permits for residential construction declined by C$1 billion to C$86.6 billion and plans for single-family construction fell 7% to the lowest level on record. The total value of non-residential building permits fell C$739.8 million to C$52.9 billion in 2025, the first annual decline since 2020.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2026 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)