City of Vancouver Permit Update for August 2011

I have been producing some graphs starting in early 2009 showing the trend of permits in the City of Vancouver (here and here and here). Here is an update to August 2011. (August data are here (PDF).)

(Note on methodology change. I have plotted the 3 month moving average of permits to better show the underlying trend.)

Residential dwelling permits graphed since 2007:

Permits parsed for 1-2 dwelling units only (i.e. single family, single family with suite, and duplex):

Multi-unit building permits:

All permits' value, residential and commercial:

Analysis:

1. There has been a sustained rebound in multi-unit permits starting in late 2009 and continuing into 2011.
2. The detached construction market is hot right now.
3. As I stated earlier this year, "I would not be surprised to see detached permit applications rebound going into the first half of 2011." And... yes.
4. Laneway housing, though not explicitly tracked by me, continued its upward trend. As I mentioned last time, "I would expect to see a continued increase in laneway housing permits, barring any major pullbacks in the availability of credit." This has turned out to be correct.

5. Total construction value, including residential and commercial, is not high by historical measures.

6. Given increased multi-unit construction in 2010 and detached construction in 2011, I expect increased dwelling supply entering the market in early 2012.