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Housing Starts Down First Quarter

By 250 News

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 01:18 PM

Canada Mortgage and Housing says as expected,  housing starts were down in the first quarter of 2007 compared to  the first quarter of 2006. 

“Both multiple and single starts regained some ground in March. Nevertheless, housing starts are gradually trending lower and were down more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2007 compared to a year ago,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “This downward trend is consistent with our view that housing starts in 2007 will be lower than in 2006.”

Here in Prince George, the numbers would have been mixed. 

In the first quarter of 2007, there were 4 more  single family units started  compared to  the same period last year,  But on the multiple family unit side of the  ledger,  there had been 8 such starts last year, and none in the  first three months of  2007.  That  left Prince George with an overall  drop of 8% in  housing starts.

Here is how  P.G. stacked up  with other  B.C. Communities:

  • Prince George                     -8.0%
  • Nanaimo                              -8.8%
  • Vancouver                           -15.%
  • Kelowna                              -44%
  • Abbotsford                          +23%
  • Kamloops                           +28%
  • Vernon                                 +56.9%


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Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 01:18 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Comment Posted by: charles on April 11 2007 6:55 PM
Is this a temporary blip, or is the debt bubble finally starting to deflate?
Comment Posted by: Runner46 on April 11 2007 9:13 PM
The operative word is mixed and that is what PG is all about, right?
Comment Posted by: owl on April 11 2007 10:54 PM
"In the first quarter of 2007, there were 4 more single family units started compared to the same period last year, But on the multiple family unit side of the ledger, there had been 8 such starts last year, and none in the first three months of 2007."

The problem is that the overall housing starts in PG are very low ..... a drop of 4 units representing 8% means there were 50 starts last year and 46 starts this year over a 3 month period.

Is that a trend? .... I would say there is no statistician in the world that would project an annual housing start from that small a number. In order to get some more certainty one would need to see the number at the end of the first quarter over the last 10 years and compare them to the total for each year to see whether the % change has been a good indicator .
Comment Posted by: Chester on April 12 2007 8:57 PM
Keep CMHC out of your lives. Invest, contribute, deposit or donate a minimum of 25% down on your next home purchase. Or, stay out of the market.

5% down or less is a recipe for financial disaster, if that is all you have. If you can't save or put more than 5% down, you really need to ask yourself if you can actually afford to own your own home? Chester