A strike by Toronto civic workers drove down the value of building permits in July by 11.4% to $4.6 billion from the previous month, Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday.

The strike in Canada’s biggest city shut down municipal offices responsible for issuing the permits for most of the month, resulting in a 54% drop in the value of permits in the city. Excluding Toronto, the total value of building permits declined by 1.8% across the country in July.

The results fell sharply short of expectations. Economists had called for a 0.5% month-over-month increase.

In the residential sector, municipalities issued about $2.6 billion in permits in July, down 4.1% from June.

But excluding Toronto, the results showed a much more promising 7.4% increase. The value of single-family permits rose 5.2% in July, for a fifth consecutive monthly boost, as a result of higher construction intentions in all provinces except Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The value of non-residential permits totaled just over $2 billion, a sharp 19.3% drop from June. Excluding Toronto, non-residential permits declined by 11.6%.

After two consecutive monthly increases, the value of permits for commercial buildings decreased 18.6% to $1 billion. In Ontario, the decrease came mainly from construction intentions for hotels, restaurants and laboratories, while Alberta and Quebec saw reduced activity in office and recreational buildings.

Permits for institutional buildings tumbled 19.7% to $734 million, largely thanks to fewer educational building projects in Alberta and British Columbia.

The value of permits for the industrial component declined by 20.5% to $264 million.

Provincially, the value of building permits fell in four provinces in July: Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia. The most significant decrease occurred in Ontario, which experienced a 27.5% drop to $1.4 billion, due to the workers’ strike.

Saskatchewan recorded the largest gain, at 57.5%, thanks to increases in all components, StatsCan said.