Hamilton housing starts up but numbers down nationally
June 09, 2010
The Canadian Press
TORONTO
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/784780
Hamilton's new home construction activity bucked a national drop in May.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported yesterday the country's annual rate of housing starts fell last month, pegging the rate at 189,100 units in May, down from a revised 201,800 in April.
But the Grimsby-Hamilton-Burlington region posted 284 starts in May, up 134 per cent from 121 in the same month last year. Year-to-date figures show 1,569 starts, up 103 per cent from 771 for the first part of 2009.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, said May's national figures were below expectations but "hardly a shock." Economists have widely predicted a slowdown in the white-hot housing market in the second half of 2010.
Many consumers pushed sales through to get into the market ahead of tougher mortgage rules in April, expected interest rate hikes and the July 1 implementation of the HST in Ontario and British Columbia.