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Manitoba homebuilding sector red-hot

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s homebuilding sector was on fire in February, fuelled by an unusually large number of multi-family starts and a hefty increase in single-family starts, as well.

Preliminary figures released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show there were 252 combined starts last month in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area, which includes Winnipeg and 10 surrounding municipalities such as Headingley and East and West St. Paul.

That’s nearly two and a half times as many as in February of last year, when only 103 new units were started.

Last month’s total included 151 multi-family units, which include apartments, semi-detached units and row housing, and 101 single-family, detached homes. That compared to 77 single-family and only 26 multi-family units in February of last year.

Canada also saw a larger-than-expected increase in homebuilding activity in February, with the number of starts jumping by 6.1 per cent to an annualized rate of 196,700 units.

"The (national) gain in February housing starts was concentrated in the multiple starts segment, particularly in Toronto," said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

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