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EDMONTON – Housing starts fell again in the Edmonton region for February with no growth in activity foreseen until at least the summer, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said Monday.
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Multiple-unit starts led the decline with a near-86-per-cent drop from February of last year, according to preliminary CMHC figures. Multi-unit starts across the Capital Region totalled 64 units last month compared to 449 started in the same month a year ago.( h3 L2 q! O1 T% O% p/ ?7 I6 a$ U3 Y6 O
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“Developer unease over rising condo apartment inventories will cause multi-unit starts to be lower this year than last,” said Richard Goatcher, CMHC senior market analyst for Edmonton.% \9 p5 s8 E; E# y# ?# V
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In the single-detached market, shovels went into the ground for 149 homes in February — a 39 per cent drop from the 243 units started a year ago.! E$ r- o+ _ O- U7 T& g
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CMHC predicts single starts to remain slow throughout much of 2009. Building activity won’t pick up over the previous year’s pace until after mid-2009 — provided new house inventories head lower. Goatcher said it will likely take until 2010 for notable year-over-year increases in single starts.
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/ e( R: y* U, G3 `Total housing starts in Alberta’s seven largest centres totalled 574 units in February, down from 1,867 a year ago, according to CMHC. Grande Prairie was the only city reporting a year-over-year increase in starts. |
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