 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.' v! V* H% r* B. _! v
! D! S: S6 @( x8 n5 F9 q7 ]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$ B _. E2 u, j3 F& j2 @" I4 _$ K; w+ c6 l% l$ c7 @9 H
“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.
5 ]& P1 [& l2 U& Q# Y0 j$ c# h
5 Z; X/ w2 Z fIn 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.
& i5 m3 @9 ^* s+ P* J0 u7 A6 |" `. n
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.
/ v: t6 I3 J \# j, o; I# R4 M1 H+ [* M
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. |
|