The number of ‘de-seasonalized’ and annualized housing start-ups has diminished in Quebec in February, contrasting with the rise noted in Canada.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) stated on Tuesday that the housing start-ups decreased by 7,1% in the Province to reach 37.900, compared to 40.800 in January.
In Canada, the number has increased by 6,6% to account for 181.900.
Economists envisaged some 173.500 housing start-ups in the country.
“The acceleration of the rhythm of the housing start-ups in February is explained by the rises which have occurred in Ontario and in the Prairies”, declared Bob Dugan, economist-in-chief at the Centre of market research of the CMHC. “The essence of this increase was felt on the side of the multifamily apartments. In this segment, the activity has increased compared to the previous month in Saskatchewan and in Toronto. ”
Real data for December
In Quebec, in real data and only for the month of February, the foundations of 1746 dwellings have been laid in the centres of more than 10.000 inhabitants, which represents a retreat of 11% over February of 2010.
“This is a second consecutive reduction in residential construction in Quebec. It comes mainly from the multifamily apartments, a segment where the deceleration should continue during the year 2011”, commented Kevin Hughes, chief economist at the CMHC for Quebec.
The operational start-ups of individual houses decreased by 8% to account for 460. The majority of the census metropolitan areas have also shown losses, of which Montreal, with a decrease of 4%, with 284 houses.
The segment of the multifamily apartments, which includes the semi-detached, the row-houses and the apartments, has also recorded a fall, i.e. of 12%. The CMHC has noted 1286 operational housing start-ups in this sector last February, compared to 1465 one year earlier.
A more thorough analysis of the data indicates than the operational housing start-ups of co-ownerships has decreased in an appreciable way. In the centres of 50.000 inhabitants and more, they passed from 478 in February 2010 to 349 last February, for a fall of 27%.