Multi-family housing starts up in Saskatoon during March

SASKATOON – Housing starts in Saskatoon were up in March according to new figures released today by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The increase in preliminary starts is due to the increase in multi-family units, which rose to 109 starts from 16 in February.

Single-detached starts were down 38 per cent, from 138 in February to 85 in March.

Total overall starts this year are down 26 per cent over the same period last year.

CMHC says there have been 465 new preliminary starts in the first three months, down from the 628 starts last year at this time.

“The trend in total housing starts declined slightly despite the significant year-over-year increase in new multi-family construction in March,” said Goodson Mwale, CHMC senior market analyst for the province.

“Notwithstanding, economic fundamentals remain in place to support strong housing activity this year.”

The news comes on the same day Statistics Canada released numbers that the value of residential building permits issued during February in Saskatchewan had dropped almost 25 per cent.