Canada May Building Permits Tumble More Than Expected
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Canadian building permits tumbled more than five times as much as expected in May because of drops in single-family houses and commercial buildings such as hotels and offices.
The total value of permits issues by municipalities decreased 10.8 percent -- the biggest decline since February 2009 -- to C$5.98 billion ($5.65 billion), Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted a 2 percent decline, based on the median of 13 responses. The value of permits has fallen in five of the past seven months.