Edmonton housing starts dip again

vista

Edmonton housing starts dip again
3 ^2 y; q& w: r+ t/ r
/ s' w. F; P) |% Q
By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comMarch 9, 2009 11:02 AMComments (2)
4 d* ^9 C) s" d9 N' Q+ }7 I  StoryPhotos ( 2 )

. @: W! S/ F& K' f( O 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.

" D! K6 y: A) A2 \3 bMultiple-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.
5 f7 F2 \5 b5 T) P
! _; J& u' w2 [4 `8 [$ }) V“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.
: d; L0 p0 @7 Y' L3 d
' N  O* L! {4 Q2 u. g5 i+ F! w! EIn 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.
9 m: }3 U" U, N7 L" N( M
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.

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.
4 n8 P0 ]  x4 h+ q
bmah@thejournal.canwest.com

icing

yingxiy