Multi-family housing starts in Langford are helping keep home construction numbers strong this year, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
In June, 95 multi-family units got underway in Langford among 194 in the region, the federal agency said in its monthly housing start report released Tuesday.
So far this year, Langford has seen 379 multi-family home starts, up 37 per cent from the same period in 2016.
Langford has been a hotbed for home construction for several years, frequently leading the way in the capital region’s single-family and multi-family housing.
A combination of lower land costs, small lots and creative designs are enabling developers to put housing on the market, often at prices below what are typical in the core.
A total of 1,218 homes were started in the first six months of the year in the region, down from last year’s 1,588 in the same period, CMHC said.
Of those started this year, 472 were single-family (compared with 451 in 2016) and 746 were multi-family, down from 1,137 in the first half of last year.
“Multi-family starts have been sluggish to date compared to singles, which are slightly above expectation,” said Jonathan Rotondo, CMHC spokesman.
Even so, multi-family construction is running 30 per cent above the five-year average.
Nationally, the annual pace of housing starts in Canada picked up in June, CMHC said.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in June came in at 212,695 units, up from 194,955 units in May.
Economists had expected the annual rate to come in at 200,000, according to Thomson Reuters.
