Edmonton housing starts fall again
BY BILL MAH, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COMJUNE 8, 2009 11:28 AMBE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT
STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )
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 Journal
EDMONTON — The pace of homes going up in the Edmonton region slowed in May compared to last year.
Contractors in the Edmonton region started 346 homes during May — a 40.9 per cent drop from the 586 units started a year earlier, show preliminary figures released Monday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
It marked the fifth straight month of year-over-year declines in 2009. So far this year, a total of 1,462 homes were begun across the capital region, down 59.2 per cent from May to June 2008.
That’s on course to meet the CMHC spring forecast that housing starts in the Edmonton census metropolitan area will fall by 51 per cent to 3,250 units by the end of the year. In 2008, the Edmonton region recorded 6,651 total starts. In 2007, it was 14,888.
Even single-detached starts, which rose 16 per cent year-over-year in April, lost ground last month. Builders started work on 242 single homes in May, down 12 per cent from a year ago. In the multiple-family housing market, 104 units were started in May, down 67 per cent from May 2008.
“CMHC’s current forecast calls for 1,250 multi-family starts in 2009 compared to 4,002 units in 2008, reflecting developer concerns over unsold condominium properties and rising rental apartment vacancies,” said the federal agency’s senior Edmonton market analyst Richard Goatcher.
Housing starts in Alberta’s seven biggest cities totalled 962 units in May, a decrease of 61 per cent from May 2008. In metropolitan Calgary, a total of 480 homes started, down by 67.7 per cent.
Across Canada, housing starts rose more than expected in May compared to April, with increased construction seen in both single- and multiple dwelling sectors.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts increased to 128,400 units during the month from 117,600 in April, CMHC said.
“Housing starts are expected to improve throughout 2009 and over the next several years to gradually become more closely aligned to demographic demand, which is currently estimated at about 175,000 units per year,” CMHC said.
Economists expected housing starts to total 126,000 units in May.
With files from Canwest News Service
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Business/Edmonton+housing+starts+fall+again/1674659/story.html