New construction in Chilliwack galloped out of the gate in terms of housing starts for 2018.
According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation stats from January and February 2018, there were 145 new housing starts in Chilliwack, compared to only 41 starts recorded in the same period last year.
Of the 145 in Chilliwack, 89 were for new single-family homes, while 55 were row housing, and one was an apartment. Last year in the same time frame Chilliwack saw 31 SF homes started. So the drift toward SF homes bucks the trend seen in urban centres to the west where the growth is more likely to be in multi-family housing starts.
Compared to other urban centres of 50,000 to 99,999 population, Kamloops was the next highest level of housing starts with 94, and Nanaimo with 79 SF housing starts.
February housing trends in the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) continued to build on the increases from the month before, leading to a strong start to the year in 2018. The North Shore, Burnaby, and the City of Vancouver were the main contributors to the increase with a number of condominium and rental multi-family units getting underway, according to the CMHC release.
Nationwide, the trend was stable. The trend in housing starts was 225,276 units in February 2018, compared to 224,572 units in January 2018, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“The national trend in housing starts has been very stable since November 2017, masking offsetting trends for multi-unit and single-detached dwellings,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “Multi-unit starts have trended higher in recent months in most major urban centres while single-detached starts have trended lower.”
@CHWKjourno
jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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