Greater Victoria homebuilders have almost doubled their pace over the first seven months of the year, according to data released Tuesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The federal agency that tracks housing starts reported there have been 1,170 homes started so far this year, up from 663 through the end of July 2014.
“New home construction in Victoria continues to make strong gains with year-to-date housing starts up compared to the same period last year. While single-detached starts are up slightly this year, the bulk of new construction activity so far has come from a significant increase in multiple-family dwelling starts,” said Eric Bond, a senior market analyst with CMHC.
Since January there have been 810 multi-family units started, more than double the 353 in the same period last year. There were also 360 single-family homes started, up from the 310 started last year by this time.
“There’s a lot of good news in this report. We have already built 89 per cent of last year’s total,” said Casey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association. “Single-family is up 16 per cent year-to-date and multis are up 129 per cent.
“And keep in mind this is not a boom year. This is what a reasonable construction year looks like versus the previous years where it’s been pretty low.”
Edge credits the continued low interest rates, Victoria’s solid in-migration numbers and strong employment data with driving the solid building results.
“It’s definitely the economy,” said Edge.
He noted a strong resale market has also played a role by chewing up the inventory available. “Our members are reasonably busy and we’re just hopeful this environment will continue.
“Victoria was overdue for this. We didn’t experience the big recovery like other parts of the country did after 2009, but now with this [surge in housing starts] it seems to be catching up.”
Canada Mortgage and Housing said starts in Victoria were trending at 1,922 units in July, compared to 1,997 in June. The trend measurement is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts to account for swings in monthly estimates.
Driven by the strong multiple-unit segment of the market, Victoria has led the region in starts with 386 since the beginning of the year, followed by Langford at 317 and Sidney with 91 new units started.
Across Canada, new-home construction slowed in July for the first time in three months, mostly as a result of fewer multi-unit projects started in urban areas — particularly Calgary.
Actual housing starts for Calgary were down 43 per cent in July from the same month last year, falling to 770 units from 1,354. For the year so far, housing starts are down 31 per cent for the city. Calgary’s economy has been hit by the protracted plunge in oil prices.
