Canada’s building permits well above estimates in April

The value of building permits in Canada has risen at a monthly rate of 20.5% to $12.8 billion in April, after a 12.3% decrease in March, data by Statistics Canada showed.

The actual rate well exceeded market consensus of a 2.2% increase.

In April, residential permits rose at a monthly rate of 21% to $8 billion, as single unit permits were up 2.4% to $2.6 billion and multiple unit permits surged 32.6% to $5.4 billion.

In the meantime, non-residential permits were up by 19.6% to $4.8 billion in April, as commercial permits rose 21.3%, industrial permits rose 17.4% and institutional permits went up 17.7%.

The Canadian Dollar was 0.09% weaker on the day against its US counterpart, with the USD/CAD currency pair last trading at 1.3770.

The major Forex pair was holding in proximity to an 8-week high of 1.3792 ahead of key US CPI inflation data and FOMC policy decision due on Wednesday.