CTV reported this week that Moncton's building permits are running near record numbers again in 2026, pushed by the same population growth that has been reshaping Greater Moncton for five years. This comes right after the biggest building year in the city's history — and it lands directly on anyone planning work on their own home.
The numbers behind the cranes
- $477.9 million in permits in 2025 — Moncton's highest annual total ever, smashing the previous record of $366.1 million set in 2022.
- 1,367 new residential units added in 2025 alone, from $208.5 million of residential permits — the most homes the city has ever added in a single year.
- 2026 started the same way: $114.8 million in permits in the first quarter, including 472 new residential units and a $43.4 million, 17-storey residential tower downtown on Assomption Boulevard.
- More is queued up: governments have put over $25 million into infrastructure work expected to unlock another 1,300 housing units in the city.
What a boom does to your renovation
Three things follow a building boom around to every homeowner in the city. First, the permit office is busy — applications for decks, additions, basement suites and garages queue behind apartment towers, so build lead time into any project that needs a permit. Second, every contractor in Greater Moncton is pricing into the same demand; the good ones carry waiting lists measured in months, not weeks. Third, all that new supply is going up around older homes — a well-kept, updated house in an established neighbourhood competes better than ever when thousands of brand-new units are the alternative.
💡 The one thing not to skip
Boom times are when unpermitted work tempts people — the inspector is busy, nobody will notice. Notice is exactly what happens later: at resale, at insurance renewal, or when the city catches up. A permit is cheap compared to tearing out finished work, and in a market moving this fast, documented, permitted upgrades are part of what your house is worth.
Practical translation: if a project is on your 2027 list, the time to start the conversation, the drawings and the permit is this winter — not the first warm week of April, when every phone in the trades starts ringing at once.
It's not just Moncton
The growth ring is busy too. Dieppe posted a record year for housing permits of its own, and Shediac cleared $111 million in permits in 2025, driven by its new school. Riverview has major road and recreation construction running into 2027. For homeowners across Greater Moncton, that means the same competition for trades, the same busy inspectors, and the same rising tide under property values — wherever in the tri-community your house sits.