Housing Starts In P.G. Drop in March

Friday, April 08, 2011 11:57 AM

Prince George, B.C. - Housing starts were down in Prince George during March, compared to the same month a year ago. Last month there were just 2 single detached homes started, when there were 8 started in March of last year. As for multiple family units, there was no change last month, as there were no such starts in March of 2011 and none in March of 2010.

As for the first quarter of the year, the building permit issued in January for the Commonwealth Seniors building on 6^th was the single reason the first quarter totals show a positive change. The 36 unit project pushed the total starts to 41 for the quarter, compared to just 18 for the same three months in 2010.

Provincially, housing starts were down throughout B.C. in March as there were 1,436 housing starts in March in British Columbia, a 16.8% decrease compared to the same month a year ago. Fewer single-detached homes contributed to the decrease. Multiple-unit home starts, which include apartments, townhouses and semi-detached homes, were up compared to March 2010 levels.

"For the first quarter of 2011, residential construction in British Columbia is close to last year's levels," noted Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts increased to 188,800 units in March, from 183,700 units in February. In British Columbia, March's seasonally adjusted rate of urban housing starts moved lower to 18,000 units, from 23,500 units in the previous month.

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Posted on Friday, April 08, 2011 11:57 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: DPJ on April 8 2011 12:51 PM

Betting the second quarter will be the catch up since many houses have not been started due to the amount of snow on the ground at the end of march.

Posted by: He spoke on April 8 2011 2:39 PM

Spec builders are being somewhat cautious because of the election and turmoil in the middle east?

Posted by: gus on April 8 2011 5:31 PM

March is down ... true ... and that is the headline ....

However, the second table is for the quarter .. a 3 month period ... and it is up primarily because of 36 multiples being started in Jan/Feb. which moved the starts from 18 last year to 41 this year. That is almost a 130% increase in housing starts for the first quarter.

Abbotsford and Vancouver are the only other centres that had an incease in the 1st quarter. PG had the largest percentage increase by far.

However, in raw numbers, PG was second from the bottom after Vernon which is considerably smaller. Generally, with cities of more comparable size, PG is working at about 25% of the quantity of those others.

Posted by: NMG on April 8 2011 6:20 PM

I'd be more curious to see how many new houses were SOLD and not just built. Built and sitting around in inventory doesn't mean a whole lot. It's like Wood Wheaton saying they have the largest selection of vehicles in town. If nobody is buying, who cares?

I say this because I recently came back from Ottawa and it's quite a bit different out there. Generally speaking, homes do not get built until someone puts their money down. Housing starts would generally equal houses sold, so you get a better idea as to the actual economic activity because everything being built is accounted for through active demand.

It was also amazing to see the sheer number of developments out there and they way they are completed. Every development is planned out with a mix of detached, semi-detached and town homes. They are all designed to fit together and nothing really looks out of place. They have every area of the market covered off within the same development. Parks, schools, trail networks and things like that are also required to be included in the developments.

Obviously a city the size of Ottawa is a different beast than what we see here in PG, but we could certainly learn allot in regards to how their developments are planned and put together. Big city or small city, there really is no excuse for some of the stuff that happens around here (i.e subdivisions that sit empty for years because there is no demand, complete elimination of green space within the vicinity of the development, etc.).