National Housing Starts Down

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.- Right across the country, housing starts for April are down.  While the specifics of the B.C. stats are yet to be released, the  initial  look, shows B.C. with a 1% net increase of  housing starts while the national  numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing indicate starts  were 117,400 units in April down from 146,500 units in March.

“The decrease in April's housing starts is partly attributable to the volatile multiple starts segment,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Centre. “Most of the decline has occurred in the condominium segment in Ontario.”

While some improvement is expected, new home construction is unlikely to match the pace set over the past seven years which exceeded 200,000 units per year. Housing starts will be more closely aligned to demographic demand, which is currently estimated at about 175,000 units per year.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased 24 per cent to 96,800 units in April. Urban multiple starts decreased 32.7 per cent to 54,700 units, while urban single starts moved down 8.7 per cent to 42,100 units in April.

April's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased 1 per cent in British Columbia. Urban starts declined 43.7 per cent in Ontario, 16 per cent in Atlantic Canada, 7.1 per cent in Quebec, and 3.0 per cent in the Prairies. 

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,600 units in April.

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