Building permits up 5.4% in April

The value of new Canadian building permitsrose 5.4 per cent to $6.7 billion in April. That follows a 12.3 per cent advance in March.

Statistics Canada saysthe value of new building permits increased 48.2 per cent from a year earlier.

The agency says April's gain was due to the non-residential sector, which more than offset a decline in the residential sector.

Non-residential permits rose for a third straight month, up 32.2 per cent to $2.8 billion.

The value of residential permits fell eight per cent from March to $3.9 billion, mostly because of declines in single- and multi-family permits in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.