Housing Starts Continue to be Slow

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 03:55 AM

Prince George, B.C. - Despite a slight increase in the number of starts for single family homes in Prince George in July, the year to date starts are still well below what they were in 2008 at this time.

The latest figures released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reveal that housing starts continued to trend lower in July. Last month there were 16 foundations poured for new single family homes in Prince George, up 23.1% over the same time last year, but nothing in the way of multile family units. The Year to Date numbers show new home starts were down 56.6% largely due to the lack of multiple-unit starts. “Developers have been taking a wait and see approach towards the multi-unit market. There are still numerous projects under construction and a sound inventory of unsold new homes available,” said Robyn Adamache, Senior Market Analyst at CMHC. “Homebuilding will remain modest until some of the inventory of new and existing homes is sold off.”

At the provincial level, dwelling starts in urban areas, seasonally adjusted at annual rate (SAAR), slipped to 10,800 units from 12,000 units in June. Nationally, housing starts in all areas also eased to 132,100 units (SAAR) from 137, 800 in June.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 03:55 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: lmorge on August 12 2009 9:20 AM

And they will be non existent here if the HST gets in. VOTE AGAINST IT

Posted by: bohemian on August 12 2009 9:50 AM

I had a quick glance at the Province article the other day. All jurisdictions went way up with the HST while Prince George remained unchanged by the tax.

Can anyone explain why?

Posted by: foxtrapper on August 12 2009 8:52 PM

Do we get a vote on this HST thing?

Posted by: mwk on August 12 2009 9:36 PM

I'm not surprised. The economy isn't doing great and PG isn't a City that exactly growing in population...so why the need for a bunch of new housing?

About the HST, I think people have to remember that there will be an exemption for houses under $400K. And even if your house happens to be over $400K, then your only paying HST on the amount over $400K.

So will HST have a negative effect on housing in PG....I'm sure it won't help, but I doubt it will really be a huge negative either. I think in places like Vancouver or Whistler etc with big ticket homes it will have a bigger impact than in the North.

If you think about it, we might actually benefit from Vancouver becoming more and more expensive. We can keep boasting that housing are still fairly affordable up here. Go PG Go.....haha