By Liam Verster

Housing Starts

Housing starts remain very low in Grande Prairie, despite nation-wide up tick

Jul 11, 2020 | 6:00 AM

Year-over-year data provided by the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) shows new housing builds in June 2020 were very low in Grande Prairie, despite new builds increasing nation-wide.

This past June, there were only six new builds in Grande Prairie, four of which were single-family homes, and two of which were multi-unit projects. That’s just 23 per cent of the new builds of June 2019, which saw 20 single-family and 6 multi-unit starts.

The past quarter saw 26 housing starts in Grande Prairie, compared to 77 starts in the same quarter last year.

Christian Arkilley, and economic analyst with CMHC, says though that is a big difference, it’s not unexpected, because of current economic conditions.

“Looking at the [COVID-19] restrictions that have gone on, looking at the fact that oil prices have dipper, it’s understandable that [housing] starts also declined.

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“One thing that I also want to mention here, is that inventory is also high in Grande Prairie. So naturally you see builders respond by reducing the amount of starts for the month of June.”

Nation-wide figures show an increase in new housing starts, which are mainly attributed to a 13 per cent increase in multi-unit projects. Arkilley says those multi-unit options are likely to be in much higher demand, because of the state of the economy and unemployment rates forcing people to find more affordable housing opportunities.

Meanwhile, across Canada, single-family housing starts have dropped 4.5 per cent.

Arkilley adds CMHC’s market forecast calls for fewer housing starts through the year, and likely into next year as well. He points to the COVID-19 restrictions, the current economy, and the unemployment rate, all of which are restricting people from getting into the housing market.