Building permits in August down

Developers in Canada were still building at a rate of $5.7 billion in new building permits in August, but its down 9.2% since July according to Statistics Canada, which released the data today.

The decline was mostly due to lower demand in commercial, institutional and industrial buildings in August, which are down 22% since July. The decrease was worst in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.

Canada's residential sector meanwhile has seen 4 months of decline, buoyed in August by a 2% increase in residential permits.... mostly apartment buildings and condos in British Columbia and Ontario.

But building permits are still up by 11.4% compared with August of 2009.