Edmonton housing starts fall almost 75 per cent

vista

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.
! J" ^$ _! D/ ?3 d# A" }
/ D8 c2 m0 Y# Y% b* M0 j+ B' y3 _Construction began on only 279 homes during the month, according to preliminary figures released today.
) z9 X: q/ p/ T; Z' V5 L& X
For the year to date, housing activity has fallen by 56 per cent compared to the first 11 months last year.

“This comes despite a robust local economy that is showing impressive employment and income growth,” said senior market analyst Richard Goatcher.

“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.”

Single-detached starts in the Edmonton census metropolitan area fell 52 per cent year-over-year to 224 units in November.
% g1 C2 I$ S/ G6 N9 |2 c
Multiple-dwelling starts fell off even harder, by 91 per cent from November 2007 to 55 units.
' `% ?: m3 k/ B" ]+ z! w
“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.