City housing starts hit 12-year low

水管工

Five-month total down 42 per cent from last year
Bill Mah, The Edmonton Journal
; d; H+ ]% e* l& [Published: 1:32 am
EDMONTON - Not since 1996 have there been so few foundations poured for single-family homes in greater Edmonton during the first five months of the year.

In the face of a glut of homes for sale, homebuilders continued to slow down the pace of new construction, preliminary figures released Monday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. show.

" O0 {' o. P2 b% g+ y- K, K$ f' mBuilders started 48 per cent fewer units of all types in May, a drop of 586, than the same month last year across greater Edmonton.
' d% O: m% Q  b1 J
For the year to date, housing starts in the region have fallen 42 per cent to 3,584 units, compared with 6,200 units started in the first five months of 2007.
4 {8 K% s+ w$ @& l- L
Starts on single-detached homes dropped 67 per cent in May to 275. At the same time last year, builders began putting up 836 houses.
5 H3 b* I! z( L7 M+ w
; U% Y) w. |4 ]7 x" }4 _2 ]The construction cool-down is especially apparent in the year-to-date statistic showing 1,110 homes started in metro Edmonton -- down 68 per cent year-over-year.

"This represents the weakest January to May performance since 1996, when only 943 singles were started throughout the region," said Richard Goatcher, CMHC senior market analyst for Edmonton.
! n( z8 P, }/ w4 \# m8 t/ B7 [
Multiple-dwelling starts, however, bucked the trend by reversing a decline in the past three months. Starts in this category rose five per cent compared with May 2007.
0 d8 n% b8 q& x
Semi-detached, row and apartment starts reached a combined 311 units, up from 296 in May of last year.

% A8 h4 x2 R2 BBut for the year so far, multiple-dwelling starts are still down by 11 per cent to 2,474 units from 2,772 in the first five months of 2007.

It's the 11th consecutive month that housing starts have declined year-over-year.

Analysts say record-high inventories of resale homes and an oversupply of spec homes are cooling new home construction.
+ c; O$ l: d* w6 J
As of Monday, 11,436 homes -- including 6,937 single-family houses and 3,786 condos -- were for sale on the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service, up from 11,006 at the end of May.

( s& Q* w1 ]" _" ?1 ZPat Adams, president of the Canadian Homebuilders' Association Edmonton Region, said the industry is working through a correction.

# K; F' c& h' U4 R+ U# o$ C"This is not the end of the world," Adams said. "Once the inventory is sold and people are back in the market, there will be more starts."

- U+ K. u& O- ]Across Alberta, total housing starts in the seven biggest cities fell 28 per cent year-over-year in May to 2,472 units, the CMHC said.
/ d! m; j. E# f: b: }! ~- F( I# \
, P& B, F& h2 s3 d/ X; n. CAll cities except Red Deer reported a slowdown from May 2007.

Calgary's housing starts were down nine per cent to 1,488 units in May from 1,633 in the same month last year.

Calgary had 475 single-detached starts -- a drop of a third from a year earlier and their lowest level for May since 1995.

"The record level of active resale listings continues to compete heavily with new home sales," said Lai Sing Louie, CMHC senior market analyst for Calgary. "Buyers believe time is on their side and are using it to shop around."
6 u' x  n& o; v1 d1 p/ H
' d! z2 P% d" ]* ~/ R9 UMeanwhile, the Calgary region's multi-family starts rose nearly 11 per cent from a year earlier.
* l7 m6 l3 ?0 K# ~" S
bmah@thejournal.canwest.com