Metro housing starts up, Canada down.Derrick Penner
Vancouver Sun
Monday, August 11, 2008
To the end of July, Metro Vancouver starts of 12,082 outpaces the building that took place in 2007 by 11 per cent. The biggest jumps were in Vancouver and Surrey. Housing starts across Metro Vancouver took a big jump in July as builders continued banging up new homes at a faster clip than in 2007, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Monday.
Builders started work on 1,904 new homes in Metro Vancouver in July, a 25-per-cent increase from the same month a year ago. The gain was entirely in multi-family projects, which offset a three-per-cent decline in single-family-home starts. To the end of July, Metro Vancouver starts of 12,082 outpaces the building that took place in 2007 by 11 per cent. The biggest jumps were in Vancouver and Surrey.
"Despite more homes being available on the resale market throughout the year, developers have moved forward and begun construction on projects that have been in the planning stage," Richard Sam, a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. analyst said in a press release. "With a number of multiple family-projects still in the pending stage, expect housing starts to be at high levels for the rest of the year."
Housing starts in Abbotsford, however, plummeted 55 per cent in July compared with the same month a year ago to 38 units. The biggest part of the drop was in multi-family projects where builders started on just six units compared with 36 in July 2007.
The July dip softened Abbotsford's results for the year to date, which saw builders start work on 953 units to the end of last month, up 24 per cent from the year previous.
Annualized housing starts plunged 13.6 per cent in July, dropping to 186,500 units from 215,900 units in June, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Monday.
Urban starts fell 14.8 per cent in July compared to June. Multiple housing starts dropped 20.2 per cent to 91,600 units while single starts cooled 6.6 per cent to 69,800 units.
