Québec building-permit value falls 8.3% in September

The value of building permits issued in Québec fell 8.3% in September to $2.6 billion, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.

Nationally, permit value declined 4.1% to $12.9 billion. The residential component fell 5.8% to $7.8 billion, while non-residential permit value moved lower as well. Statistics Canada reports permit values in current dollars and seasonally adjusted terms.

Building permits are an early indicator of construction intentions, not a measure of completed projects or actual spending. A permit can be revised, delayed or cancelled after approval, and monthly results can move sharply when large projects enter or leave the data.

For Montréal-area readers, the Québec decline provides a province-wide signal but should not be read as a direct forecast for any single borough or municipality. Local permit volumes and project mix can differ substantially from the provincial total.

Sources

• Statistics Canada, “Building permits, September 2026”, released November 12, 2026.

Featured image: illustrative stock photo by Kate Trysh via Unsplash under the Unsplash License. Cropped and resized for publication; it does not depict the reported event.