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Quebec housing starts in October

Quebec housing starts in October

According to the results of the latest monthly survey conducted by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), residential construction increased this past month in Quebec’s centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants. In all, 3,896 dwellings were started in October 2010, compared to 3,261 a year earlier. However, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts for this same month (40,900) was lower than for the month of September (42,000).
 
The increase in residential construction in October was mainly attributable to the multiple-unit (semi-detached, row and apartment) housing segment, where starts climbed from 2,008 units in October 2009 to 2,994 units a year later, for an increase of
49 per cent.
 
“So far in 2010, the pace of multiple-unit housing construction has been maintained thanks to the condominium segment, which benefits from a dual clientele: retirees and first-time buyers. It is a totally different story for single-detached home building, which has been declining since the spring. The notable slowdown in starts of this type has been due to both cyclical forces—characterized by a less tight resale market—and a structural reality, that is, the competing presence of more affordable housing types, such as condominiums,” said Kevin Hughes, Senior Economist at CMHC for Quebec.
 
A more detailed analysis of the data effectively indicates that condominium apartment
starts have been the main engine of this growth. In centres with 50,000 or more inhabitants, such starts rose from 666 units in October 2009 to more than 1,400 in October 2010. In fact, the vast majority of these new units got under way in the Montréal and Québec CMAs.
 
Single-detached home building fell by 28 per cent year-over-year in October, as all of the CMAs in the province, except Trois-Rivières, recorded losses. Based on the survey results, the Gatineau and Québec areas registered the largest declines (-45 per cent and -36 per cent, respectively).
 
Just like in the province overall, construction was on the rise in the larger census agglomerations (CAs). This increase was in fact attributable to both the single-detached home segment (+28 per cent) and the multi-family housing segment (where starts more than doubled). Among the give CAs, only Shawinigan registered a drop.

After the first ten months of the year, starts in Quebec’s urban centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants were up by 23 per cent, compared to the same period in 2009. This result reflected the increases in multi-unit housing construction (+31 per cent) and, to a lesser extent, in single-detached home building (+9 per cent).

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Québec Landlords Association (1)

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