As one commentator put it, building permit values fell off a cliff in Saskatchewan in May.
But we were not alone in seeing this development. They were down in many regions of the country.
Saskatchewan municipalities issued building permits worth roughly $120 million in May. That is down 18 per cent from April and more than 35 per cent behind the pace we were setting a year ago.
The most noticeable drop was in Saskatoon which saw values fall in the 70 per cent range. Regina actually saw a 50 per cent increase on a month-over-month basis in April and a comparable increase compared to a year earlier.
The big hit is on the residential side. Although we continue to hear stories across the country that Canada’s population is growing but we are not building enough houses to accommodate the increases, the value of permits issued in Saskatchewan in the past year fell more than 50 per cent to $50 million, compared to more than $100 million in May of last year.
The value of permits for new commercial buildings surged a bit in May were down compared to a year earlier, declining 15 per cent compared to a year ago.
