Housing starts in Grande Prairie were down by nearly 50 per cent last month. Construction started on 11 homes, down from 20 in August 2015 for the fourth month in a row.
The drop is largely due to an 80 per cent decline in multiple family homes, but that’s not the case year-over-year. Multiple starts are actually well above last year’s pace with nearly 100, while 60 had begun in the first eight months of last year. 2016 is still ahead of 2015, but now by only 20 new houses.
A decrease is the trend across the country, as Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Chief Economist Bob Dugan says “construction of multi-unit dwellings slowed in most regions, led by lower activity in Alberta and Manitoba.”
Construction began on 195,640 units in August across Canada compared to 201,379 in July.