Statistics Canada reported that the value of building permits issued by the Canadian municipalities fell 5.5 percent m-o-m in January 2019, following a revised 6.4 percent m-o-m gain in December 2018 (originally a 6.0 percent m-o-m increase). 

Economists had forecast a 4.8 percent decline in January from the previous month. 

According to the report, the value of residential permits grew by 1.6 percent m-o-m as both single-family (+3.1 percent m-o-m) and multi-family dwellings (+0.7 percent m-o-m) posted gains.

Meanwhile, non-residential building permits plunged by 15.8 percent m-o-m in January, hurt by lower construction intentions for commercial buildings (-25.3 percent m-o-m). At the same time, increases were reported for both the industrial (+4.8 percent m-o-m) and institutional (+0.4 percent m-o-m) components.

In y-o-y terms, building permits edged down 0.1 percent in January.