Edmonton housing starts fall almost 75 per cent

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EDMONTON — The number of housing starts in the Edmonton region for November tumbled 74 per cent from the same time last year, said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
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, Z& k! W- m: e2 M( O5 [4 |Construction began on only 279 homes during the month, according to preliminary figures released today.
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- T" d7 d) j- Y) x; G6 rFor the year to date, housing activity has fallen by 56 per cent compared to the first 11 months last year.
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5 X1 l$ z4 o; b0 M! ~. ]( Z9 a“This comes despite a robust local economy that is showing impressive employment and income growth,” said senior market analyst Richard Goatcher.
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( q" }, t5 C0 M  R“The home building industry has been impacted by a slowdown in net migration into the province since mid-2007 and concerns locally about elevated new and existing home inventories.”
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. `, Y- w9 y; M% o  T* J) x( gSingle-detached starts in the Edmonton census metropolitan area fell 52 per cent year-over-year to 224 units in November.

Multiple-dwelling starts fell off even harder, by 91 per cent from November 2007 to 55 units.
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/ H  O4 C2 Z4 Q' y- g$ h1 g+ j“The high volume of units still in progress suggests that further reductions are warranted in the coming year,” the CMHC said in a release.

Across Alberta, total housing starts in the seven largest cities dropped by 49 per cent year-over-year despite increased building in Wood Buffalo and Lethbridge.