Edmonton housing starts dip again

vista

Edmonton housing starts dip again
. s+ n+ W! l5 u# A: [
" D( _# R, Q  a/ I( W
3 t; ?* y; M% m! R8 L% ~7 BBy Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comMarch 9, 2009 11:02 AMComments (2)
  StoryPhotos ( 2 )

& L- B8 T: _4 Y7 W0 Q1 F- d 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.

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.

+ x- x* _$ w: u$ E5 u! F0 r“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.
6 R% h8 r5 L# f+ h6 C
, K2 ~$ c6 W: a$ N2 dIn 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.
1 t* I8 R4 M- W
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.
* D  {  O) S/ z0 s
7 _; W1 r  ?% g2 v# Q6 k4 hTotal 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.
9 G" }$ ]; s# A7 I1 l8 d1 r) `9 o6 M
) J: E: e/ R# K2 j8 {bmah@thejournal.canwest.com

icing

yingxiy