Edmonton housing starts dip again

vista

Edmonton housing starts dip again
. t. K1 I5 D! m( @% f

- H1 T6 |3 j% x3 l" ^By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comMarch 9, 2009 11:02 AMComments (2)
  StoryPhotos ( 2 )
  A3 |2 S% d9 h+ D; M7 `' `
' Y  ^! L$ a9 B 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.
3 X6 V9 C$ O  f3 F; Q/ S
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.
+ ^# {. z6 Z8 X; }
, ~( I8 ~0 w6 K) u“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 w2 d# J# M  R" ]9 Z3 H& e. d
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.
" Q  j, F8 q8 a% c0 m
9 s& @, E  l- _1 C- u. I; |! y" HCMHC 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.
, u/ C- q! J6 _
6 z! M- b& y9 F; ~6 w* f9 ZTotal 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.
* O; @' n$ c/ r1 b- ?
bmah@thejournal.canwest.com

icing

yingxiy