Saskatoon posts strongest numbers for housing starts in decades for 2011
In 2011, Saskatoon and Regina both saw housing starts increase to levels not seen since the early 1980′s, according to a senior market analyst for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Builders in Saskatoon started construction on 1,608 single-family homes and 1,386 multi-family dwellings for a total of 2,994 homes, up from 2,381 last year to mark an annual gain of roughly 26 percent.
Meanwhile in Regina, construction got underway on 958 single-family homes and 736 multi-family dwellings to close the year with 1,694 starts and a year-over-year gain that also reached 26 percent.
“Saskatchewan’s expanding economy and labour market continued to attract elevated numbers of migrants into the province’s centres. This bolstered housing demand in 2011 and fuelled a pace of starts rarely seen across the province,” Michael Fabiyi explained in the CMHC media release.
Read the coverage in today’s Star Phoenix.
See CMHC’s Preliminary Housing Start Data report.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
3 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
January 13th, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Hi Norm,
These housing start numbers are pretty staggering. And related to this, the population estimate for Saskatoon at the end of 2011 was around 234,000. Obviously, Saskatoon’s growth has been in the news both locally and nationally, so it’s not “news” But to put this into perspective, the City of Saskatoon’s population forecast in 2006 estimated the 2011 population to be around 219,000….. this forecast also estimated a “high” growth scenario could produce a population of 232,000 by 2011. So, the city has actually outperformed the “high” growth estimates.
There are good and bad sides to this, but I’m wondering what your opinion is of the way Saskatoon is developing. Do you think that the City is doing enough to promote infill development to increase our population density? I drive around the city and I see news subdivisions popping up all the time….
I personally would like to see less outward expansion and higher densities. People are continually complaining about high property taxes and traffic problems, but at the same time there’s a huge demand for more new land to be developed…. this approach is leading us to sustained high taxes, increased traffic and decreased public transit over the long term.
Do you hear much discussion about this in your “circles”? Is there much demand in the industry for urban development as opposed to more “suburbs”?
January 13th, 2012 at 4:38 PM
Thanks Dana,
I’m not hearing much serious discussion in “my circles” specifically but I know that city council is taking some public heat. Lots of chatter on twitter between people who attend council meetings regularly.
Apparently there is a plan to accommodate some 10,000 new dwellings by 2014, most in suburbs.
There was this from an urban planner who made some recommendations to the city.
There was a bit of media coverage last week that quoted the mayor saying that redevelopment within the city would be important to our future growth as a city.
January 14th, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Looks like the real estate market is doing well in Saskatoon unlike other markets. That is good news. Good post by the way.