Housing starts tumble across Canada; Saskatoon among the hardest hit

Housing starts across Canada continued to weaken through the month of February falling 59% nationally and 69% in Saskatchewan, according to “Preliminary Housing Start Data” released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporationtoday.  Only British Columbia and Prince Edward Island showed larger drops as both provinces saw starts decline 76% in February compared to the same month last year.

On a year-to-date basis (January and February), housing starts are down 50% across Canada. Saskatchewan leads the provinces showing the largest decline, off 74% with just 152 starts this year compared to 578 for the same period in 2008.

Saskatoon’s year-to-date housing starts sit at 57 units, a decline of 85% over the same period last year. Kelowna was the only Canadian city to post a larger drop with starts falling 96%, year-over-year, from 735 last year to just 28 this year.

Paul Caton, CMHC senior market analyst told the Saskatoon Star Phoenix that new home construction is off to a slow start this year as developers work to finish and sell the houses they began building in 2008.

CMHC’s Preliminary Housing Start Data is here. The Star Phoenix story is here.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra