Canada Building Permits Rebound 8.8% in August as Multi-Unit Leads — Ontario Hits $5.1B, Toronto CMA Up 28% Year-Over-Year

Statistics Canada's August building-permit numbers, released October 14, show construction intentions bouncing back after a softer July. Nationally, the total value of building permits rose $1.1 billion, or 8.8%, to $13.6 billion. Residential work did almost all of the lifting. Non-residential intentions edged slightly lower.

For the GTA audience, the provincial and metro readout matters as much as the national headline. Ontario climbed 9.4% month-over-month to $5.1 billion (+26.1% year-over-year). The Toronto census metropolitan area rose 3.8% from July to $2,434.9 million — still 28.4% above August 2025, after June's spike and July's pullback.

Permits measure construction intentions, not housing starts. The August rebound is a pipeline signal, not a guarantee of what will break ground next quarter.

The headline numbers

• Canada total (seasonally adjusted): $13.6 billion (table total $13,571.7 million) — +8.8% month-over-month, +15.8% year-over-year
• Constant dollars (2023=100): +8.6% month-over-month, +12.4% year-over-year
• Residential: $8,468.7 million (+15.3% m/m, +17.9% y/y)
• Multi-unit value: $5,840.5 million (+23.8% m/m, +26.6% y/y)
• Single-family value: $2,628.2 million (essentially flat m/m, +2.2% y/y)
• Non-residential: $5,103.0 million (−0.6% m/m / −$29.8 million)
• Ontario total: $5,089.7 million (+9.4% m/m, +26.1% y/y)
• Toronto CMA total: $2,434.9 million (+3.8% from July, +28.4% from August 2025)

Multi-unit is the national story

Statistics Canada says the monthly rebound was led by residential construction intentions, which rose about $1.1 billion. Inside that, multi-unit permits did the heavy work: value climbed $1.1 billion to $5.8 billion (+23.8% month-over-month, +26.6% year-over-year). Single-family permit value edged down $0.7 million to $2.6 billion and was essentially flat on the month, though still up 2.2% from a year earlier.

Dwelling units authorized tell the same story. Canada authorized 25,833 dwellings in August (+12.8% month-over-month, +8.7% year-over-year). That breaks down to roughly 21,800 multi-unit homes (table: 21,837, +15.6% m/m) and about 4,000 single-family units (table: 3,996, −0.5% m/m).

Over the 12 months from September 2025 through August 2026, Canada authorized 299,500 dwellings, compared with 305,500 in the prior 12-month window — still a softer trailing year even as August itself rebounded.

Province by province on multi-unit value, Ontario led the gain at +$696.0 million, followed by British Columbia (+$189.8 million) and Alberta (+$115.9 million).

Non-residential: a small step back

Non-residential permits edged down $29.8 million, or 0.6%, to $5.1 billion. The mix was uneven:

• Commercial: down $380.0 million to $2.2 billion
• Industrial: up $317.3 million to $1.1 billion
• Institutional: up $32.9 million to $1.8 billion

That is a different picture from June, when institutional work — including a large Toronto medical-institution approval — dominated the national and Ontario totals. August's rebound is residential-led.

Ontario and the Toronto CMA

Ontario's seasonally adjusted total hit $5,089.7 million in August — $5.1 billion in the Daily's narrative rounding — up 9.4% from July and 26.1% from August 2025. With Ontario also leading the national multi-unit value gain, the province is again the centre of gravity for Canada's residential permit rebound.

Toronto CMA permit values from Statistics Canada's census metropolitan area table:

• August 2025: $1,896.2 million
• June 2026: $4,001.7 million
• July 2026: $2,345.6 million
• August 2026: $2,434.9 million

July-to-August is a modest +3.8%. Year-over-year, Toronto is still +28.4%. The June spike remains the outlier in the recent series; August looks more like a partial recovery from July than a return to June's level.

Nearby CMA totals for August 2026 (same StatCan table):

• Oshawa: $106.0 million (+115.0% m/m, +17.1% y/y)
• Hamilton: $222.5 million (−7.7% m/m, +50.1% y/y)
• Barrie: $127.3 million (+108.3% m/m, +65.4% y/y)
• Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo: $154.6 million (+31.6% m/m, +3.2% y/y)

What it means for the GTA supply pipeline

Building permits are intentions. They authorize work; they do not equal housing starts, completions, or new listings. A stronger multi-unit permit month in Ontario and a Toronto CMA total still well above August 2025 points to more apartment and condo construction intention flowing through the approval system — especially after July's cooler print.

What the data does not say is how many of those authorized units will start on schedule, or when they will reach the for-sale or rental market. Financing, labour, and municipal timelines still sit between a permit and a crane. For GTA buyers, renters and agents, August is best read as a national and provincial rebound in multi-unit intentions, with Toronto CMA value up slightly on the month and firmly higher than a year ago — not as a forecast of next quarter's starts.

Sources

• Statistics Canada Daily — Building permits, August 2026 (released October 14, 2026)
• Table 1 — Building permits, Canada
• Table 2 — Building permits by province and territory
• Table 3 — Building permits by census metropolitan area