Housing starts on rise

DURHAM -– Construction of new town homes in Whitby has fueled the Eastern Durham area’s 16 per cent rise in new home construction last month compared to the same period last year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) statistics show construction began on 116 homes in February in the Oshawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which includes Whitby and Clarington.

That’s an increase of 16 per cent compared to units started in the same month last year. All centres comprising the Oshawa CMA reported an increase in housing starts in February.  

“This is a sign that the market conditions remain healthy,” said Edisa Kozo, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst. “Tight market conditions in the resale market in 2007 carried over into stronger starts in 2008. There is more spillover of demand into the new home market.”

The purchase of a single-detached home continues to remain an affordable option for many homebuyers in the Oshawa area, especially given the rising house price in many of the neighbouring markets in the Greater Toronto Area, Ms. Kozo said.

“New homebuyers interested in centres in close proximity to Toronto are particularly contributing to housing activity in the Oshawa CMA,” Kozo said.

Housing starts are down in Oshawa, Uxbridge and Ajax and up in Pickering and Clarington for the same period.

Single family home starts were stable at 82 units compared to 83 in February 2007, but a major contributing factor in the overall increase is that Whitby saw 34 town homes (multiple-family homes sector) started in February, compared to none the year before.

The CMHC is also forecasting 2008 housing starts for Oshawa CMA will increase to 2,515 and gradually decrease in 2009 to 2,440 starts.

For the first two months of 2008, housing starts in the Oshawa CMA were 5.5 per cent higher than in the same period of 2007. During this period, single-detached starts rose 2.2 per cent to 185 units, while multiple-family starts rose 22.2 per cent to 44 units.

The local rise reflects an increase in housing starts across Canada, with 256,900 units in February, up from 222,700 units in January, CMHC said.

New home construction in February was boosted by the significant rise in multiple-family starts, especially in the condominium starts, which have been strong over the past year or two.