Edmonton housing starts dip again

vista

Edmonton housing starts dip again


By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comMarch 9, 2009 11:02 AMComments (2)
  StoryPhotos ( 2 )

& A* |" M) T( G: {' M* T More Images »  A for sale sign is posted in front of a new homes in the Sunset Valley Estates on Ellerslie Road in Edmonton.Photograph by: Anne-Marie Jackson, Edmonton JournalEDMONTON – Housing starts fell again in the Edmonton region for February with no growth in activity foreseen until at least the summer, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said Monday.
3 H+ x0 A+ B, v5 Q6 q+ |) a
; h6 u/ |0 [! o! {3 TMultiple-unit starts led the decline with a near-86-per-cent drop from February of last year, according to preliminary CMHC figures. Multi-unit starts across the Capital Region totalled 64 units last month compared to 449 started in the same month a year ago.
6 ^3 q0 y% N% H& G/ L2 V4 }% l# D$ z" D
“Developer unease over rising condo apartment inventories will cause multi-unit starts to be lower this year than last,” said Richard Goatcher, CMHC senior market analyst for Edmonton.
  g# w  k+ B) E3 Q6 r3 Y
6 j( u% t3 Y" |6 cIn the single-detached market, shovels went into the ground for 149 homes in February — a 39 per cent drop from the 243 units started a year ago.
6 Z! x1 e6 q) k9 U" _
. }9 @" r$ ]0 a' s  V& V# Y9 H: ?CMHC predicts single starts to remain slow throughout much of 2009. Building activity won’t pick up over the previous year’s pace until after mid-2009 — provided new house inventories head lower. Goatcher said it will likely take until 2010 for notable year-over-year increases in single starts.
, l3 ^$ Q- v( @2 _
Total housing starts in Alberta’s seven largest centres totalled 574 units in February, down from 1,867 a year ago, according to CMHC. Grande Prairie was the only city reporting a year-over-year increase in starts.
) k& X% r- W) j' P1 A
% F% O7 i2 l4 i& B4 Z- Z9 Hbmah@thejournal.canwest.com

icing

yingxiy