Canada June building permits +6.1% vs -3.5% expected

• Prior was +10.5%
• Permits at $11.6 billion
• 67.2% monthly increase in the institutional component largely due to two hospital permits
• Non-residential permits increased 20.4%
• Residential permits declined 1.8% to $6.9 billion in June
• The total value of building permits in the second quarter declined 1.0% from the first quarter but residential up 4.9%

Declines in the commercial construction intentions (-7.7%
or -$176.0 million) were more than offset by gains in the industrial
(+51.0% or +$349.9 million) and institutional (+67.2% or
+$619.3 million) components.

This is a one-off increase and not a reason to buy CAD.

Canada needs a major effort to speed up home construction approvals but there’s nothing on the horizon to make that happen. There is a major public shift underway to build more housing and limit immigration.