Residential construction in Greater Victoria is running on par with last year's levels, although Canada's housing market continued to show signs of cooling last month.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said housing starts across the country for September totalled 19,750. That's 220,200 units annualized, a slight decrease from the upwardly revised 225,300 units the previous month.
Greater Victoria had 1,296 housing starts over the first nine months of the year, nearly level with the 1,281 for the same months last year.
Total housing starts in the capital region hit 202 in September, up from 188 in the same month a year ago. The bump was due to an increase in condominium starts, said Etienne Pinel, analyst with CMHC.
Last month saw 156 condo units get underway, with 136 of those in the city of Victoria. Condo buildings currently under development include the Promontory at Bayview Place in Songhees, Era on Yates Street, Sovereign on Broughton Street, Duet on Michigan Street in James Bay, Mondrian on Cook Street, and Union on Pandora Avenue. Further plans are in the works to develop the Northern Junk site and the old Janion building on either side of the Johnson Street bridge.
Single-family construction was spread throughout the region last month. A total of 46 single-family houses were started, with Langford claiming the largest number at 12.
In Nanaimo, housing starts were down in September to 43 from 87 the same month in 2011. Also down was Courtenay with 62 last month from 88; Duncan at 39 from 45; Parksville-Qualicum Beach at 26 from 37; and Port Alberni with 16 from 24. Campbell River was up with 57 starts last month from 47 in September of last year.
CMHC said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of national starts decreased by 3.0 per cent in September to 203,731 units. But the number was still above the consensus forecast of about 205,000.
