P.E.I., London buck downward starts trend

October 21, 2017

Prince Edward Island and the Ontario communities of London and Brantford were about the only areas that reported higher housing starts in September than a month earlier, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
In P.E.I., starts of single-detached houses soared 93 per cent year-over-year, as of September, with most of the building in the Charlottetown area. A record high level of immigration is supporting starts of multi-family units, which are up 16 per cent this year compared to 2017. Still, even with the increase, P.E.I. actual starts are averaging less than 100 per month.
Across Canada, the trend in housing starts was 214,821 units in September 2017, compared to 220,573 units in August 2017, reports CMHC. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.
“Housing starts are trending lower in September after increasing for eight consecutive months,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “Nevertheless, new home construction remains very strong as the seasonally adjusted number of starts was above 200,000 units for four straight months.”
While Ontario’s September starts were up 13 per cent from August, they were down 7 per cent in Toronto, but spiked in London where both detached and multiple housing starts posted the highest levels for the month of September since 2006.
Metro Vancouver saw a decline in multiple-family starts, particularly in the city of Vancouver where starts of apartments and townhomes were down 60 per cent from a year earlier.