Paul Martin commentary
One of the key indicators to follow if you’re looking to assess the economic health of a community or a region is building permits.
Investment in structures can be something of a barometer or litmus test for the economy’s underlying strength. People and organizations willing or capable of making major, long-term investments are signaling their belief in the area’s future.
Also, capital or investment flows are a potent growth engine as construction requires large volumes of labor which, in turn, is supported by the service sector such as retail, food services and so on.
The latest building permit numbers are from March and they show Saskatchewan was up quite strongly, posting the third-highest increase in the country. But it was not evenly distributed, particularly between the two major cities.
Saskatoon is claiming the lion’s share of the new urban development. A year ago, the value of building permits issued in the Saskatoon region totaled $40 million more than Regina. By March of this year that spread had widened to more than $110 million.
