 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.
( \' M9 a \4 q5 Y5 T+ s
; A. d/ {( ^9 {$ g( z5 fMultiple-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.
. c6 Z; {* I2 G( O
j% i* q: U0 e“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.8 ~: m/ n: ^7 }5 D4 A" d$ C
1 h9 ?2 P% G" n. M; E
In 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.
3 D( p0 o' ]* r* c
3 N- ~, o" |! TCMHC 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.( T! I$ g B" j* a& F/ A
- v' n2 D5 G/ r# I) D
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. |
|