Starts Increases For Housing

Reports from CMHC showed that starts for housing was a trend with 213,435 in the month of April, compared to May which was 214,621. Chief Economist of CMHC, Bob Dugan said; “Housing starts trended higher in May in Canada’s urban areas. Row and apartment units led the upward move, while construction has slowed for pricier single- and semi-detached houses.”

There was a rise in single-detached and rowhouses and other types of housing which showed a higher trend in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, whereas data showed that regional differences with Toronto showed a decline in starts, mostly for single-detached and row units.

Areas like Kelowna, Abbotsford-Mission and other urban areas had an increase, while Vancouver had an overall slight drop despite being on track for 25,000 for this year and Victoria seeing a slower pace. Builders showed more confidence in Calgary, Regina and Edmonton, with Alberta and Saskatchewan showing a decent increase. Saskatoon continued to be pressured, although with a fall of 25 per cent, builders were still careful concerning the multi-family units high inventory.

Since the start of this year, the housing starts for Quebec continues to be lower, with vacancy rate increasing for recently built rental units which is driving this trend. Trends for apartment shows to be strong in Hamilton, with starts doubling up for the year-to-date level of last year. So far for this year, the starts for single-detached increased by 16 per cent.