Highlights from ‘Building Permits, July 2024’

The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on September 12, 2024. For full details from this dataset, please click here.

Monthly (seasonally adjusted, July 2024 vs June 2024)

  • Nova Scotia’s total building permits (residential and non-residential) grew by 4.0% to $267.6 million
  • Halifax permits rose by 13.1% to $168.7 million
  • Permits outside the city declined 8.4% to $98.8 million
  • National permits rose 22.1% to $12.4 billion

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building permits fell 11.2% to $89.6 million
  • Halifax permits declined 12.8% to $66.9 million
  • Outside the city, non-residential permit values declined 6.1% to $22.7 million
Year-to-date (January-July 2024 vs January-July 2023)

  • In the first seven months of 2024, Nova Scotia’s residential building permits increased 31.3% compared to the same period in 2023
  • Halifax residential permits increased 41.7%
  • Outside the city residential permit values increased 17.7%

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building permits rose 4.6% in the first seven months of 2024 (compared with the same period in 2023)
  • Halifax permits increased 7.1% while non-residential permits outside the city rose 0.4%
  • National non-residential building permit values fell 1.8%
Trends
  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building permit values started to rise in early 2023 before reaching a plateau through the end of the year
  • Non-residential permit values continue to increase in Halifax while declining in the rest of Nova Scotia, resulting in a continuation of the current plateau
  • In Halifax, non-residential permits have been trending upward in recent months due to rising commercial and institutional/governmental projects
  • After rising in early 2023, Halifax values for industrial building permits subsequently declined and have been flat in recent months
  • Outside the city, permits have reached the peak and there is a decline in commercial and institutional/government permits.