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Canada housing starts jump in December

OTTAWA — Housing starts were up in most parts of the country outside the Atlantic provinces in December, according to a report released Monday by the Conference Board of Canada.

The report on metropolitan housing starts report showed a year-over-year increase in 17 of the 27 areas studied.

Some of the biggest jumps were in London, Ont., where starts went from 826 in December 2008 to 3,259 in 2009; Saskatoon, which went from 916 to 2,285; Edmonton, where starts took a year-over-year leap from 4,990 to 12,539; and Victoria, where work began on 1,666 houses in December, 2009, compared to 486 in the same month in 2008.

The short-term expectation for Ottawa's housing market changed to positive from a negative ranking in November — joining 11 other cities, from Halifax to Abbotsford, where both short-term and long-term prospects for housing starts look good. Short-term expectations are based on residential permits data, while long-term outlooks are based on demographic requirements.

The board notes that short-term prospects are less positive in Sudbury, Ont., Toronto, Hamilton, Ont., Winnipeg and Vancouver, while Quebec, Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, Que., Sherbrooke, Que., and Ottawa-Gatineau are expected to fare less well in the long term.

There are five cities where housing starts are not expected to grow significantly in either the short or the long term: St. John's, N.L., Saint John, N.B., Saguenay, Que., Kingston, Ont., and Thunder Bay, Ont.

 

• HOUSING STARTS: December 2008 / December 2009

St. John's, N.L. 2,135 / 2,073

Halifax 1,573 / 1,411

Saint John, N.B. 570 / 450

Quebec 4,864 / 7,807

Montreal 15,337 / 24,703

Trois-Rivieres 904 / 1,312

Saguenay 759 / 720

Sherbrooke 1,178 / 1,267

Ottawa-Gatineau 8,685 / 12,559

Kingston 1,275 / 778

Sudbury 260 / 527

Thunder Bay 110 / 128

Oshawa 1,119 / 2,034

Toronto 36,537 / 22,578

Hamilton 1,647 / 3,121

St. Catharines 615 / 1,088

Kitchener-Waterloo 1,971 / 3,112

London 826 / 3,259

Windsor 531 / 501

Winnipeg 16,614 / 2,171

Regina 857 / 2,036

Saskatoon 916 / 2,285

Calgary 5,838 / 9,282

Edmonton 4,990 / 12,539

Vancouver 11,380 / 11,326

Victoria 486 / 1,666

Abbotsford 606 / 478

 

Source: Conference Board of Canada

THIS ENTRY WAS POSTED ON January 18th, 2010 BY Mark Longpre | POSTED IN General ,