New housing starts continue to decrease about everywhere in Quebec, and this is still the case in June of 2009, if one compares the results with the same period last year, in the agglomerations of 10,000 inhabitants and more. 2.990 new foundations were recorded whereas in June of last year, the calculation was of 3.706 new housing starts.
The figures come from the Monthly survey carried out by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
In Canada, the annualized de-seasonalized number of new housing starts of dwellings in the urban centres was 120.100 in June, a rise compared to that of 109,700 recorded in May.
In the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA), new housing starts have been down by 15% in June, that is to say 2,467, compared to 2,912 in June of 2008. All of the CMAs recorded a regression during this period except for Trois-Rivières which has known a strongly growing activity, and Sherbrooke which posted a stable assessment.
All of the segments have known decreases. Individual homes recorded a fall of -17% compared to the same month of last year, and on the side of collective housing, this fall was -21%.
Kevin Hughes, principal economist at the CMHC in Quebec has declared: “The deceleration of the construction of individual homes can be explained by a weakened economic situation and the weakness of the resale market. On the side of collective housing, in particular apartments for rent and joint ownership, the regression is ascribable, inter alia, to the great amount of stocks available on the market”.