Prince George,  B.C. – Canada Mortgage and Housing’s first quarter report on housing starts in B.C. , shows little change in Prince George.

In the first three months of the year,  CMHC reports  there were 17 single detached starts in Prince George,   up  one  over  the 16 starts in the same period last year.

The stats show no change  in the number of starts in March with  3 single detached homes started in Prince George last month,   the same as March of 2013.

There were no multiple unit starts in Prince George  last month or in the first quarter.

In urban centres with populations of 50 thousand to 99 thousand, the greatest change took place in Kamloops,  where  the first quarter results show  starts nearly tripled from  33 in the first three months of last year,  to 115  in  the same period this year.  The  increase in that city  due to  the jump in starts for multiple family dwellings.  There were just two such starts in Kamloops last year by the end of March, and  96 in the  same period this year.

In urban centres with a population larger than 100 thousand, starts in Kelowna climbed from 136 in the first quarter of 2013,  to 209 in the first  quarter of 2014.

Victoria and the Abbotsford-Mission areas both saw declines in the overall starts in the first quarter.