 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
EDMONTON – 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.
/ e) b1 x Y8 h( L* N) \8 n9 \( u8 t6 u: Y
Multiple-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.. Z e4 i2 z( ]5 D/ a# y; i
7 R9 Q( X( G% e) P
“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.
! z- _# F# s6 b7 d- x
; p6 N4 H$ N# }( W3 U+ |/ X0 l5 j9 UIn 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.
0 P$ i+ Y# L- X7 t5 ~& L
) D9 u0 Q" v& C- p KCMHC 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.
- A' r" n6 V" I9 n
' y \6 ~% b0 s" {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. |
|