For all of the urban regions of 10.000 inhabitants and more in Quebec, one has counted 3.594 foundations of dwellings in May 2009, compared to 4.659 for the same period last year. The figures were provided by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), following its last monthly survey.
The following positive point should be mentioned: “The annual de-‘seasonized’ figure of new housing starts settled at 35.400, exceeding even its level of April which was at 33.100”.
“The May results do not surprise us, taking into account the recent weakness of the labour market and the weakening of the resale market since last fall”, says Kevin Hughes, principal economist at the CMHC for Quebec.
In May of 2009, it’s especially individual homes that have known the steepest decrease of new housing starts, with a reduction of -31% if one compares with the same period in 2008. The reduction will have been less strong (- 17%) at the level of collective housing such as semi-detached houses or row houses, or apartments. Here’s the table for all the CMAs of Quebec: Gatineau (+ 27%), Sherbrooke (+ 4%), Trois-Rivières (- 75%), Montreal (- 29%), and Saguenay (- 17%).