Province
Housing starts in B.C.’s urban centres fell 18.1 per cent in September, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts in urban communities dropped to 14,000 last month from 17,100 in August, CMHC said.
“For the first nine months of the year, 9,316 homes were started in areas of British Columbia with more than 10,000 people, compared to 25,520 during the first nine months of last year,” the federal housing agency said.
Nationally, housing starts fell in September, but not as much as expected, reflecting more signs of recovery in the market.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts totalled 150,100 units in September, down from 157,300 units the previous month, CMHC said.
Most economists had expected about 148,000 housing starts in September. “The decline in housing starts in September is attributable to the volatile multiple-starts segment,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.
“However, starts of single homes, which are a barometer of the trend in housing markets, climbed in September to reach their highest level so far this year,”he said.
“The rebound in existing-home sales and the upward trend in new-home construction, support our expectation that housing demand has strengthened and that housing starts will be stronger in the second half of 2009.”
Millan Mulraine, economics strategist at TD Securities, said “while the decline in the headline number was disappointing, the fact that construction of single-family units — a useful gauge of the trend in overall housing-market activity — posted its second monthly double-digit gain is testament to the improved tone in Canadian housing market activity.”
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