Vernon apartment starts up in June

Despite a relatively quiet August 2018 for new housing construction, Vernon continued to trend well ahead of 2017 construction levels

That is according to the August 2018 Housing Starts data released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation his week.

There were 20 new housing starts reported overall in August 2018, up from 18 in August 2017. Year-to-date there are 299 housing starts in 2018, compared to 195 at the same point last year.

Of the total starts in the Kelowna CMA, over 80 per cent were apartments that began construction in the City of Kelowna.

Kamloops continues its elevated pace for construction in 2018, with apartments making up the majority of overall housing starts while 156 apartments broke ground in Prince George during August 2018, pushing the year-to-date totals in housing starts well ahead of 2017 numbers.

“Despite a very strong August for housing starts in the Kelowna CMA, the first eight months of 2018 have seen a decrease of 29 per cent in the single-detached segment and 28 per cent in the multi-unit segment, relative to the record year of housing construction seen in 2017,” says CMHC senior analyst Taylor Pardy.

“Despite this decrease in construction activity, the pace of housing starts in 2018 remains well above the 10-year average.”

Nationally the trend in housing starts was 214,598 units in August 2018, compared to 219,656 units in July 2018, according to CMHC.

This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“The national trend in housing starts continued to decline in August from the historical peak that was recorded in March 2018,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist.

“This moderation brings total starts closer to historical averages, largely reflecting recent declines in the trend of multi-unit starts from historically elevated levels earlier in the year.”