Housing starts still lagging

By Advocate staff

Published: November 10, 2008 9:17 PM


With two months remaining in 2008, housing starts in Red Deer are down nearly two-thirds from 2007.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported on Monday that from January to October, work had commenced on 298 single-detached dwellings and 170 units in multi-family buildings, for a total of 468 starts.

During the same period last year, the numbers were 873 for single-detached homes and 485 for multi-family units, for a combined 1,358.

This decline of 65.5 per cent was the greatest among Alberta’s seven major urban centres.

The Edmonton metropolitan area had the second-biggest drop at 54.5 per cent, Medicine Hat was down 44.1 per cent, Grande Prairie experienced a 41.6 per cent slide, Lethbridge was off 26.3 per cent, and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo fell 24.1 per cent. The Calgary metropolitan area recorded the smallest decline, at 13.8 per cent.

During the month of October, there were 42 construction starts on single-detached homes in Red Deer, as compared with 61 in October 2007.

No starts on multi-family units were reported in the city this October or last.

Total housing starts across the seven urban centres during October decreased 43 per cent from last year, to 1,682 from 2,931.

Nationally, CMHC said housing starts during the month were six per cent lower than for the same period in 2007.