Homebuilders in Greater Victoria had a busy October as they got started on 337 new homes in the region, according to numbers released on Tuesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The 337 homes — 251 of which were on the West Shore — dwarfed last October’s starts of 290. Year-to-date, the region has started 3,825 new homes compared with 2,637 through the first 10 months of 2020.
The overwhelming majority of new homes are in multi-family developments, with 2,659 units started this year, including about 1,000 in Langford, View Royal, Colwood and Sooke.
Victoria has seen nearly 1,200 new homes started so far this year.
Across the country, the pace of housing starts in October fell compared with September, according to the CMHC.
The national housing agency said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 236,554 last month, down from 249,922 in September.
The annual pace of urban starts fell 3.7 per cent to 214,797 as starts of apartments, condos and other types of multiple-unit housing projects dropped 5.3 per cent to 156,781.
The annual rate of single-detached urban starts rose one per cent to 58,016.
CMHC estimated the annual rate of rural starts at 21,757.
The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts was 264,264 in October, down from 270,661 in September.
aduffy@timescolonist.com
