January 11, 2010

ICBA Commentary: Building Permits November 2009

The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) offered the following commentary on today's Statistics Canada release of the building permits survey for November 2009.

"It's encouraging to see the numbers of building permits rising over this time last year, especially in residential construction," said Philip Hochstein, President of ICBA. "Residential construction is the first step that drives increases in industrial, commercial and institutional building, so this small upswing will hopefully lead to more investment in construction to speed the economic recovery.”

Hochstein noted that prices have already bottomed out for construction services, and with lower commodity price and contractors' improved productivity, this is the best time to build. “Our surveys of the construction industry show that about a third of contractors expect activity and costs to return to pre-slowdown levels by 2011,” he added. “Now is the best time to get a good deal on construction."

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