[油画批发零售]

Ottawa housing starts continue to fall
By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Tue, Oct 11, 2005 9:00 AM EST



While builders across the country were stepping up the pace of home construction last month, local builders were continuing to apply the brakes to the Ottawa housing market.

Preliminary figures from Canada Mortgage and Housing reveal the lowest level of construction for a September since 1999.

"Residential construction was down 36 per cent last month, making it the eighth year-over-year monthly decline this year; this downward momentum will likely continue," says CMHC analyst Christain Douchant.

While low mortgage rates make housing attractive, the high inventory of existing homes on the market is dampening demand for new homes. Housing construction year-to-date is down 33 per cent from the same period in 2004.

Single-family construction is down 29 per cent to 1,761 starts so far this year while multiple construction has fallen 36 per cent to 1,891 units.

"Multi-family construction has fallen faster than the new single-family market due to more choice of homes available in the resale market," says Mr. Douchant.

The former City of Ottawa saw only 15 new housing starts in September compared to 106 in September 2004. Residential construction in the former municipality of Nepean was down by over half, while Kanata recorded a 39 per cent decrease from a year ago.

The slowdown in the Ottawa market was a sharp contrast to the situation nationally, where CMHC says the annual rate of starts in September reached 230,500, up from 206,200 units in August.

"Housing starts across Canada remain strong and are on track with our expectations for the year," says CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan. "Low mortgage rates and increasing full-time employment are continuing to fuel high levels of housing starts in 2005."

Multiple starts are increasing faster than single-family starts, as buyers shift toward less expensive forms of housing. Multiple starts are poised to outnumber single starts in 2005 for the first time in more than 20 years.

[northeast]

Following the house starts falling, the price will be going down soon.