Edmonton housing starts dip again

vista

Edmonton housing starts dip again


By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comMarch 9, 2009 11:02 AMComments (2)
0 t! J5 w& m2 R# H7 A$ K, e& R& u  StoryPhotos ( 2 )
' x; c, p5 m$ Z* N1 E
& n% p6 L6 _9 v' x 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.
0 Q  n$ @, z. x
- V3 t$ d6 @3 b; y, t6 n0 h& 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.

“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.

In 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 S% t1 T5 s' e5 x- p- T
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.
: ~% B4 ?0 J9 G, s$ C; H3 _
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.
) p; C  E. Y% Y! N3 _4 n" f/ A
bmah@thejournal.canwest.com

icing

yingxiy