| Alberta leading Canada despite construction drop |
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The numbers aren what they used to be, but Alberta continues to lead all provinces in residential construction on aper capitabasis, says a federal agency.
Calgary Herald Archive
Despite a sharp decline in housing starts this year and next, Albertacontinues to be the national leader, says RichardCorriveau, Prairie region economist for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. By the time this year is out, single-familyand multi-familybuilderswill have startedwork on 8.56 homes per thousand population in the province, topping the list of jurisdictions. B.C. isaclose second at 8.2starts. In 2009, the twotop producerswill maintain their positions, with Albertacounting 6.9starts per thousand and B.C. at 6.7. Thenumbersand margins have comedown considerably, but nonetheless, Albertaremains as the national leader, saysCorriveau. By comparison, in 2007Alberta tallied 13.9homes per thousand with B.C. adistant second with 8.95. In the housing marketoutlook forOctober to December, CMHCpredicts that single-detached housing will decline slightlymore than 48 per cent this year to 14,500construction starts. Multi-familyhousing is expected to decline about 24per cent to 15,250 units. Corriveau says the big changewill occur in 2009. The fortunes of the single-detached home builderswill bounce back a bit to 15,000 starts. The detached sector hasnt bottomed out yet, but that will likely occur about midway through next year, says Corriveau. In terms of multi-familyhousing, this years 24-per-cent drop will be followedbyamore dramatic 41-per-cent drop. For all of next year, work will start on only9,000 units throughout the province. It will be Calgary thatwill take the biggest hit, saysCorriveau. After startingwork on an estimated6,800 units this year almost 19 per cent higher than the 2007 total ground will be broken foronly2,500apartments, townhouses and semi-detached homes in 2009. Amongcities, Calgary will rank thirdinthe country in housing construction starts of all kinds this year. Topping the list will beGatineau, Que., with 10.4 starts per thousand, followedbySaskatoon at 9.9. Calgary isaclose thirdat9.7. Next year, though, because ofasharp adjustment to our multi-familymarket, Calgary will be surpassed by several cities in Vancouver, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Gatineau and St. Johns, Newfoundland, saysCorriveau. Calgarysyear-end figures in2009 will be 6.1. per thousand people. For 10years, from1996 to 2006, Calgary owned the topspot. In 2006, the ratiowas 15.5 starts per thousand population. In 2007, Edmonton climbed to firstplaceat 13.8 startswhile Calgary slid back to 11.9. Calgary also heldasimilar decade-long grip on single-detached housing starts in the per capitarankings, closing out 2006 at 9.5per thousand. In 2007, Edmonton was on top at 7.1, while Calgary counted 6.8. Theslide continued fromthereand by the end of this year, at least six cities will vault past, leaving Calgary witharatio of 3.8 starts. Alight improvement in construction levels next year will not be enough forCalgary to move up the ladder very far, predicts Corriveau.
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