Construction intentions for both the housing and non-residential sectors fell in September, pushing down the total value of building permits for the third consecutive month, Statistics Canada said today.

Contractors took out $4.4 billion in building permits, down 3.3% from August. It was the first time since late 1997 that permits have fallen for three months in a row, StatsCan said.

However, the agency noted that September’s total was still 4.3% higher than the average monthly level in 2003.

Housing permits dropped 4.3% in September to $3.0 billion, also the third straight decline. A decrease in single-family dwellings from a record high in August was only partly offset by a rebound in multi-family permits, the government agency said.

In the non-residential sector, municipalities issued permits worth $1.5 billion, down 1.3% from August, led by a significant drop in institutional projects. StatsCan said this was the third consecutive monthly decline in non-residential permits, and the sixth so far this year.

On a year-to-date basis, permits totalled $40.8 billion between January and September, up 7.8% from the same nine-month period last year. StatsCan said this was entirely the result of the overwhelming demand for new dwellings since January.

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/041104/d041104a.htm