The Calgary and the Edmonton regions were headed in opposite directions when it came to the value of building permits issued in January.

According to data released on Thursday by Statistics Canada, the Calgary census metropolitan area reached $489.7 million in building permits for the month, up 14 per cent from December and a hike of 20.3 per cent from January 2018.

However, the Edmonton census metropolitan area saw permit value decline to $287 million, down 20.6 per cent month over month and a drop of 35.1 per cent year over year.

Across the province, building permits of just over $1 billion were down 8.7 per cent month over month and by seven per cent year over year. The residential value of permits in Alberta of $604 million rose by 1.7 per cent on a monthly basis but fell by 12.3 per cent on an annual basis. For the non-residential sector, permits of $424.3 million dipped by 20.3 per cent from the previous month but rose by 1.8 per cent from a year ago.

– Mario Toneguzzi

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