Record year for building sector

Led by residential builds, London’s building sector posts a record $1.63 billion in construction in 2021

DESPITE PANDEMIC AND supply chain challenges, London’s building and construction sector recorded a record year in 2021, with the total value of construction coming in at more than $1.63 billion.

A report headed to city council’s planning committee shows a total of 4,760 building permits were issued in 2021, a jump of 16 per cent from 2020 figures.

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The permit total represents almost 4,000 new residential units built in the city. Of those permits, 1,889 were for residential additions and 1,045 were for single-family homes. Multi-family dwellings, such as duplex, triplex and apartment complexes, accounted for 17 of the permits and represented 1,900 of the 3,999 residential units approved by city hall.  

The report notes that, at year’s end, city hall was working on more than 1,400 applications totalling approximately $960 million in construction value. If approved, the applications would add 2,235 residential units to the city.

Nationally, building permits also soared in value last year. The value of total building investment reached $126.5 billion in 2021, up 25.6 per cent from the previous year.

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Like it is locally, most of the building in Canada is residential, with single-family units in very high demand. Total residential building represented $87.2 billion of the funds in 2021, up 29.9 per cent from a year before. Single-family homes boosted by the flight to the suburbs was $40.7 billion of those dollars, up 41.5 per cent over the same period. The remaining $46.5 billion was multi-family building permits, showing an increase of 21.1 per cent  from last year.

Non-residential building permits also saw a big boost nationally, but haven’t fully recovered from pandemic woes. The segment represented $39.6 billion worth of building permits in Canada in 2021, up 17.1 per cent from the previous year. The segment is lagging behind its pre-pandemic numbers, with only institutional structures back to pre-pandemic levels.