ICI Permits Reach New Heights

ICI building permits started 2007 with one of the single biggest first quarters on record, topping $2.5 billion, up 52 per cent over Q1 2006. The gains were maintained through the second quarter of 2007 resulting in a 33 per cent increase over the first six months of the year. All three sectors registered increases however, the industrial sector, in which building intentions increased 70 per cent over the same period in 2006, recorded the most striking gain. Institutional and commercial permits were also up significantly recording gains of 31 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.

The year was hot off the start as January 2007 permit values jumped in all three sectors (industrial, commercial and institutional) increasing +115.0 per cent ($337 million) over December 2006, and although February permit values fell sharply that did not off set the record gains recorded the previous month. The two month aggregate permit value of February and January was just over $1.7 billion, an 80 per cent increase compared to the $946 million recorded over the same period in 2006. March permit values roared back topping $911 million, just shy of the billion mark posted in January.

Province-wide, commercial permit values totalled over $2.7 billion, with office buildings the single largest component of the commercial sector, totalling over $865 million. Within the Industrial sector, in which permits totalled almost $1.3 billion, plants and factories was the biggest single category of growth valuing just over $790 million. Within the institutional sector, hospital and school building intentions combined to value just over $1 billion with both building type categories recording strong growth over the same period in ICI permit values for the first quarter of 2007 were up in every region in the province except Eastern Ontario, where a 69 per cent drop in the value of institutional permit values offset strong gains in the industrial and commercial sectors.

In Northern Ontario, Institutional permit values were up 58 per cent due primarily to large hospital projects in Sudbury and North Bay. Industrial permits were also up 38 per cent relative to the same period last year. However, at only $34 million, the sector had little impact on total permit values of $275 million, an increase of 39 per cent over the first half of 2006.

GTA permit values were up significantly in all three ICI sectors, and overall building permit values for the first six months of 2007 were just over $2.5 billion, up 32 per cent over the same period in 2006. At $1.5 billion, commercial permits were up over 24 per cent, and continue to be the prime source of growth of GTA building intentions. Low office space vacancies continue to spur on plans for large office towers projects in the downtown core. Once these projects are completed the additional office space should balance out the market.

Industrial building intentions jumped in 6the GTA, posting a 38 per cent gain over the first half of last year, while Institutional permit values look like they might rebound this year after significant declines over 2005 and 2006. Institutional permits were up 49 per cent over the same period in 2006 to just over $538 million.

Central Ontario was up 40 per cent over the first six months of 2006 recording a 62 per cent gain in the value of commercial permit values and modest gains in both industrial and institutional permits the region.

Southwestern Ontario witnessed strong increases in both commercial and institutional permits in the second quarter of this year to register a 33 per cent increase in total ICI permit values over the first six months of last year. A 52 per cent surge in the strength of the industrial sector was the largest source of ICI permit growth.
 

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