Building Permits (BPER): Canadian and British Columbia Construction Indicators, 2003-2026

Building permit data and highlights report for Canada and British Columbia, including permit values and number of residential units created. The monthly dataset covers the period from January 2003 to April 2026, with annual data available for 2003 to 2025. The data is provided by the Government of British Columbia and adapted from Statistics Canada's Building Permits (BPER) survey.

Use Cases

• Track regional construction activity based on monthly permit values and residential unit counts.
• Analyze long-term building trends in British Columbia based on annual data from 2003 to 2025.
• Compare construction indicators across census divisions and subdivisions in British Columbia.
• Assess the economic impact of residential development based on reported permit values.

Strengths

• Monthly data covers a 23-year period from January 2003 to April 2026.
• Includes geographic detail for British Columbia at census division and subdivision levels.
• Data is available in multiple formats including XLSX, CSV, HTML, and PDF.

Limitations

• A data break exists between 2003–2017 and January 2018 onward due to methodology changes, making direct comparisons difficult.
• The description notes that data at granular geographic levels may be of lower quality and may not capture all construction activity due to incomplete reporting.
• For 2003 to 2017, monthly data by residential unit type at the CD and CSD levels is not available.

Provenance

Source

Government of British Columbia, adapted from Statistics Canada, Building Permits (BPER) survey.

Collection Method

Survey data collected from municipalities.

Time Range

Monthly data: January 2003 to April 2026. Annual data: 2003 to 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-01 17:00:58.014586

Geography

Canada and British Columbia (with data at economic region, census division, and census subdivision levels for BC).