Building permits in Greater Vancouver defied the national trend in April, rising 15 percent over the previous month on the strength of multi-family residential permits.

The increase meant building permit volume for the Vancouver region stood at $600.8 million for the month, representing a strong enough gain to claw back some of the ground lost in March.

Vancouver’s performance led to a robust result at the provincial level in April, with BC seeing a nearly 17 percent increase in building permit volume from the previous month. The partial rebound in BC came as building permits at the national level fell by 17 percent over March.

While April’s rebound was encouraging, Central 1 Credit Union Deputy Chief Economist Bryan Yu said that residential permits in BC have fallen 23 percent during the first four months of 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.

“The recent pull back likely reflects a slowdown in new construction due to economic uncertainty, the need to ensure physical distancing protocols at worksites, and potential delays at municipalities,” Yu wrote in a brief late last week.

He went on to say that new construction activity would likely be constrained through the summer months.

In a longer term outlook published in mid-May, BMO Senior Economist Robert Kavcic said that he doesn’t anticipate any major hit to Canadian new housing supply to come as a result from pandemic disruption.

“[W]e’re not likely to see any material [housing] supply shortage coming out the other side, and the bigger risk for housing is that demand is more permanently depressed if the job market isn’t able to come back strongly,” wrote Kavcic.

Vancouver Building Permits Rebound 15% in April by Sean MacKay | Livabl