Industry highlights – Building permits and construction investment

Building Permits, December and Annual 2024

The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on February 11, 2025. For full details from this dataset, click here.

Monthly (seasonally adjusted, December 2024 vs November 2024)

  • Nova Scotia’s total building permits (residential and non-residential) rose 12.8% to $282.7 million
  • Halifax permits grew 24.7% to $192.7 million while permits outside the city fell 6.2% to $90.0 million
  • National permits rose 11.0% to $13.15 billion

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building permits fell 26.0% to $52.0 million
  • Halifax permits dropped 43.9% to $22.3 million
  • Outside the city, non-residential permit values declined 2.7% to $29.7 million
  • National non-residential building permit values declined 5.9% to $4.18 billion

Annual (2024 vs 2023)

  • Nova Scotia’s total building permits (residential and non-residential) were up 11.2% in 2024 comparing with 2023
  • Halifax permits increased 17.9% and outside the city permit values increased 1.7%
  • National permits were up 6.6%

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building permits decreased 6.9% in 2024 (compared with 2023)
  • Halifax permits dropped 1.9% while non-residential permits outside the city fell 13.5%
  • National non-residential building permit values rose 3.0%

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 reached a plateau in Halifax in the middle of 2024 and started to decline in the second half of 2024 while flat in the rest of Nova Scotia, resulting in a declining trend
  • In Halifax, after reaching a plateau non-residential permits started to decline at the end of 2024
  • Commercial projects and institutional/governmental projects are declining in recent months
  • After rising in early 2023, Halifax values for industrial building permits subsequently declined and have grown at a slower pace in recent months
  • Outside the city, permits have reached the peak and there is a decline in commercial and institutional/government permits
Building Construction, December and Annual 2024

The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on February 13, 2025. For full details from this dataset, click here.

Monthly (December 2024 vs November 2024, seasonally adjusted)

  • Investment in Nova Scotia building construction increased by 6.2% in December 2024 to $563.5 million
  • Halifax monthly building construction was up 15.1% to $316.3 million while outside of Halifax building construction was down 3.4% to $247.2 million
  • Nationally, investment in building construction increased 1.9%, with increases in six provinces

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential building construction increased 0.3% to $107.2 million
  • In Halifax, non-residential construction was down 0.4% to $66.4 million
  • Outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 1.5% to $40.8 million
  • National non-residential building construction was up 1.3% in December 2024 with gains in eight provinces

Annual (2024 vs 2023)

  • Compared to 2023, building construction investment was up 21.6% in Nova Scotia in 2024
  • Halifax construction activity was up 26.3% and outside of Halifax construction activity was up 16.7%
  • National building construction investment was up 5.8%

  • Nova Scotia’s non-residential construction was up 30.5% in 2024 compared to 2023, the fastest gain among provinces
  • Halifax’s non-residential construction rose 21.3% while outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 47.1%
  • National non-residential construction investment increased 5.0% compared to 2023

  • All categories and locations of building construction investment reported growth in 2024, with the fastest increases (in percentage terms) for institutional/governmental building projects – particularly outside Halifax
  • In Halifax, the next fastest percentage gains in construction were reported in industrial buildings and multiple unit dwellings; the slowest gain was reported for commercial buildings in Halifax
  • Outside the city, the next fastest percentage gains after institutional/governmental buildings were in multiple unit dwellings and industrial buildings; single dwelling units posted the slowest growth outside the city

Trends

  • Non-residential investment has been on a more gradual increasing trend, primarily from investments in Halifax
  • Halifax non-residential building construction has rebounded in recent months on both institutional/government and commercial projects
  • Outside the city, rising non-residential investment levels have lately been driven by institutional/government projects
  • Nova Scotia building construction rebounded from lower growth in 2023 to growth similar to what was observed in 2021 and 2022