February housing starts jumped by 44 per cent compared with a year earlier, according to the latest statistics from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
CMHC said there were 2,407 housing starts in Calgary last month, compared with 1,674 housing starts in February of 2024 — and up from the 1,629 housing starts in January of this year.
Alberta’s three other major cities — Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer — experienced a drop in housing starts last month.
In Edmonton, there were 1,478 housing starts in February, compared with 1,642 in February 2024.
In Lethbridge, there were 24 housing starts last month, compared with 19 in the same month a year earlier.
In Red Deer, there were just nine housing starts in February, compared with 167 in February 2024.
Nationally, CMHC said housing starts in the country’s major population centres (10,000 or greater) were down by 17 per cent — led by Vancouver, where housing starts plummeted by 48 per cent, and Toronto, where they tumbled by 68 per cent.
The new bylaw changed low-density residential zoning to allow for semi-detached, rowhouses and townhouses to be built on lots zoned for single-family homes.
— with files from The Canadian Press