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New home construction slows
WINNIPEG — New home construction activity slowed in April as a rebound on the single-family side of the market was overshadowed by a bigger drop-off in multi-family starts.
There were 256 combined starts recorded last month in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said today. That was a 1.9 per cent decline from the 261 recorded in April 2011.
The drop-off was due to a 12 per cent reduction in the number of multi-family starts, which includes condominiums, apartments, semi-detached units and row housing. The agency said builders broke ground on 88 such units, versus 100 a year earlier.
That decline overshadowed a 4.3 per cent increase in single-family starts — 168 units versus 161. April’s increase in single starts came on the heels of a 12.8 per cent decline in single starts in March.
Nationally, housing starts blew past expectations in April.
CMHC said there was a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 244,900 starts recorded during the month. That was up 14 per cent from the previous month, and well ahead of what the 204,000 economists polled by Bloomberg had been predicting.
"While unseasonably warm weather has been helping starts in recent months, April’s return to more normal seasonal temperatures still saw home building soar," CIBC World Markets economist Emanuella Enenajor said in a research note.
"That’s even with data on building permits pointing to some moderation in home-building intentions. That suggests that low (interest) rates remain the principal catalyst for continued robust construction activity in Canada."
— with files by Postmedia News
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
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