Statistics Canada announced on Monday that the value of building permits issued by the Canadian municipalities surged 14.7 percent m-o-m in April, following a revised 2.8 percent m-o-m advance in March (originally a 2.1 percent m-o-m increase).

Economists had forecast a 0.5 percent gain in April from the previous month.

According to the report, the value of residential permits climbed 24.5 percent m-o-m in April, as permits multi-family dwellings climbed by 39.6 percent m-o-m, while single-family permits rose by 5.1 percent m-o-m.

At the same time, the value of non-residential building permits increased by 1.1 percent m-o-m in April, due to higher construction intentions for industrial buildings (61.8 percent m-o-m), which however were offset by declines in permits for both institutional (-24.5 percent m-o-m) and commercial (-5.3 percent m-o-m) components.

In y-o-y terms, building permits increased 18.3 percent in April.