Single Housing Starts Down

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 07:37 AM

Canada Mortgage and Housing reports single family dwelling starts (seasonally adjusted rates) were down for the month of October on a national basis.

Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre says “Single starts, the bellwether component of the new home market, fell to their second lowest level of the year.” They dropped nationally by 4.2 % to 91,800 units across the country.

According to City Hall, the number of permits issued for single family dwellings in Prince George, dropped to 17 in October compared to 21 permits which had been issued for the same month a year ago.

CMHC says the year to date figures for single detached home starts are UP for the P.G. area. According to CMHC in 2005, from January to end of October there had been 220 single detached homes started in this region compared to 243 starts recorded so far this year, that's an increase of 10.5%

CMHC says there was growth in multiple family dwellings (up 23% nationally) but the pace of housing starts has been slower since August compared to the first half of the year and that is consistent with CMHC’s view that residential construction will decrease gradually between now and the end of 2007.

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