Over the last year, housing continued to be one of the faster-growing sectors of the economy, supported by high levels of new construction, renovation and existing home sales, according to the 2004 edition of the Canadian Housing Observer.

The second edition of the Observer, an annual review of the state of Canadian Housing, was released this week by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It found that while improvements in housing affordability have been recorded since the mid-1990s, 1.7 million households continue to have difficulty finding acceptable housing.

Other findings in the report include:

– Approximately two-thirds of all Canadian households are homeowners. Homeownership rates have been increasing in Canada in recent years, rising from 63.6 per cent to 65.8 per cent between 1996 and 2001.

– While Canadian homes are getting larger, the average number of people per household is getting progressively smaller, shrinking from 3.9 in 1961 to 2.6 in 2001. Yet, total residential energy use increased by 3.7 per cent between 1990 and 2001.

– Spending on residential investment and home repairs contributed $73.3 billion to the Canadian economy in 2002, with new construction and related costs accounting for almost half of this total.

– Existing home sales set a new record in 2003, as 439,000 dwellings were sold through the Canadian Real Estate Association’s Multiple Listing Service.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004