Wednesday February 17th, 2010 - Dramatic Increase in Home Starts

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. recently released a survey that showed construction began on over 900 new housing units in January 2010, almost 50% more than January 2009.  Surrey led the way with over 295 new starts, and Vancouver had construction begin on over 234 homes.

The report showed that British Colombia's figures were up over 80%, with 1,699 units being started.  8,840 units were started across Canada, that is up 46% from the previous year.

Construction wise, Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association CEO, Peter Simpson, said there was not much going on in 2009.  The improvement is good and surprising he explains.
He says the sudden improvement in the market has sparked builders to begin construction on many new projects, even creating new jobs for local workers.

He reminds people that risks such as the introduction of a harmonized sales tax and the possibility of higher interest rates loom in the future.  He admits that the country and the region are both getting back to decent levels of housing starts.

There was a high inventory of unsold, new homes that have been slowly subsiding with the recent wave of buying.

Vancouver-based home builders are saying that business is definitely looking better after the rough 2009 year.

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