Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released their report on new home construction in the greater Edmonton area today showing the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in construction of new homes. In August 690 units were started by Edmonton area builders, up from 558 a year previous.
“The higher number of housing starts this year has lifted supply levels back to the level experienced in 2008,” said Richard Goatcher, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst for Edmonton. “Considering the heightened competition from the resale market and easing demand, we expect the growth in new single- detached construction to moderate in the months ahead,” he added.
Year-to-date there have been a total of 7,018 housing starts in the Edmonton CMA, up from 2,921 units at this time last year. Here are the highlights of the report:
- 519 detached single family homes were started in August, up 38% from a year earlier
- 4318 detached single family homes have been started so far this year, up 145% from 2009
- Multi family starts were down 7% from last August to 171 units
- 2700 multi family units have been started so far this year, up 134% from last year
- Inventory of complete, unoccupied units is high at over 1000 units.
Housing starts across Alberta’s seven largest centres amounted to 1,818 units in August, up 20 per cent from the 1,511 starts in August 2009. In Calgary, Medicine Hat, and Wood Buffalo, housing starts increased year-over-year in August while decreases where experienced in Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Red Deer.
