Province
OTTAWA — There was more evidence yesterday of the resilience of the Canadian housing market, with reports of a rebound in construction and another increase in prices for new homes.
The annual pace of housing construction starts jumped 7.4 per cent to 222,100 in November from 206,800, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported, noting the increase recovers most of September’s drop in activity.
“Strong employment and income gains, coupled with low mortgage rates, continue to bolster consumer confidence and demand for homes,” said Bob Dugan, economist with the agency.
Ontario led the country with a 36.9-per-cent jump in the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of urban housing starts in November to 74,600 units, due in large part to a recovery in the volatile multiples segment in Toronto. Urban housing starts in November in the Prairies were up 3.1 per cent to 39,600 units and up 1.8 per cent to 40,500 units in Quebec compared to the previous month.
Activity was down on both coasts, with the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts in B.C. falling 13.8 per cent to 29,900 units and 19.4 per cent to 7,900 units in the Atlantic region.
Meanwhile, StatsCan reported its index of new home prices rose by 0.7 per cent in October following a 0.6-per-cent rise in September and were 5.4 per cent above 2004 levels.
© The Vancouver Province 2005