· Building permits
May 2026 Construction Pulse: $9.5B in direct-tier permit value
Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal again took the national value podium. OpenStats totals use only Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0292-01 live rows.
By OpenStats data desk · Editorial standards
May 2026 Construction Pulse closed with about $9.5B in national permit value among municipalities that carry a direct Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0292-01 reading. That is the headline OpenStats publishes on the full Pulse report. The total uses the live-source gate described in the methodology story on this desk. Proxy and seed rows visible on wider atlas coverage do not enter the national sum.
Value podium
Toronto led the month at about $1.99B in permit value, followed by Vancouver at about $1.18B and Montreal at about $1.08B. Together those three cities accounted for a large share of the $9.5B direct-tier national total. Calgary and Edmonton took the next tier ($579M and $533M). Ottawa posted one of the larger year-over-year climbs among large markets (+121% on value vs May 2025, $399M vs about $180M).
| Rank (month) | City | Permit value | Permit count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | $1.99B | 2,707 |
| 2 | Vancouver | $1.18B | 866 |
| 3 | Montreal | $1.08B | 4,469 |
| 4 | Calgary | $579M | 1,544 |
| 5 | Edmonton | $533M | 2,224 |
Toronto’s $1.99B on 2,707 permits implies a higher average value per permit than Vancouver’s $1.18B on 866 permits. Montreal filed the most permits among the top five (4,469) while placing third on dollar value ($1.08B), which points to a greater share of smaller residential filings. Edmonton filed more permits than Calgary (2,224 vs 1,544) but less total value ($533M vs $579M), so Calgary’s May average permit value ran higher even with fewer filings.
Residential vs non-residential
Pulse breaks residential and non-residential value so a spike can be traced to housing starts or to commercial and institutional work. Calgary’s May split was $450M residential and $129M non-residential (about 78% residential). Edmonton’s split was $369M residential and $164M non-residential (about 69% residential). National shares for May sit on the report page; city pages on the permits atlas show the local split where StatCan publishes it.
Year-over-year changes on the prairie capitals were negative in May 2026: Calgary about −17.6% and Edmonton about −32.6% vs May 2025. The national total still landed near $9.5B because Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal remain large absolute contributors even when individual months cool. Readers comparing May 2026 to May 2025 should check whether a prior-year month included a single large non-residential permit that distorts the percentage.
Acceleration and calendar-year context
The Pulse acceleration table highlights cities with at least $5M in prior-year May value. Peterborough led that list at +1,653% ($269M vs about $15M). Ottawa’s +121% sat on a much larger base. Acceleration and monthly value leaders answer different questions: one finds momentum on a percentage basis with a floor, the other ranks absolute construction dollars.
On the 2026 year-to-date permit value ranking, Toronto led at about $11.7B, Vancouver at about $9.5B, and Montreal at about $5.3B. May’s monthly podium matches the year-to-date order at the top. Edmonton (about $2.86B YTD) still edged Calgary (about $2.82B YTD) on the cumulative table even when Calgary won May alone.
For the method gate that excludes seed rows from national totals, see how OpenStats reads StatCan permits. Open the full Pulse PDF-style report for charts, the acceleration table, and residential share at national scope. City hometown pages under cities plot permit value alongside City Score inputs where coverage allows. Subscribe to the hub RSS feed or open the Construction Pulse archive under reports for prior months when you need a longer runway than a single May snapshot. Chilliwack (+324%), Kingston (+236%), and Kamloops (+230%) appeared on the same acceleration table as Peterborough; their stories sit on this news index for readers who want mid-size city detail beyond the national podium. Quebec City about $1.70B YTD and Ottawa about $1.49B YTD on the calendar-year ranking show how secondary metros stack below the top three on cumulative value even when individual months spike. Edmonton about $2.86B and Calgary about $2.82B YTD show how Alberta capitals sit far below the top three on calendar-year sums even while they lead many prairie peers. Chilliwack +324%, Kingston +236%, and Kamloops +230% on the May acceleration table share the Pulse month with Peterborough’s +1,653% headline when you read the full report rather than the national total alone.