Single-home construction down in Kelowna, but multi-units up: CMHC

In a sign of the times, housing starts in Kelowna were a mixed bag in March.

For example, March saw the construction of just 16 single-detached homes. That’s down 79 per cent from March 2023, when 62 single-detached homes were built.

On the flip side, the loose term “all others” saw a spike of 83 per cent. That term includes multi-housing units, which have seen a big jump in the last two years.

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Last month saw the construction of 379 other units, up from 207 in March 2023.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, nationwide housing starts in March 2024 (242,195) were down seven per cent from February 2024 (260,047).

However, the CMHC also said the number of nationwide housing starts in urban centres of 10,000 and up grew 16 per cent the past year, from 14,756 units in March 2023 to 17,052 units in March 2024.

“The year-over-year increase was driven by higher multi-unit starts, up 19 per cent and higher single-detached starts, up 2 per cent,” CMHC said.

More information is available on CMHC’s website.