By The Canadian Press

Fort McMurray Wildfire Could Result in Record Housing Starts for the Community

Jul 21, 2016 | 6:08 PM

FORT MCMURRAY:  The federal housing agency says Fort McMurray, will soon see a home-building boom in the aftermath of this spring’s devastating wildfire.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says in a report that the boom is expected to start later this year and expand in 2017 and will be unlike anything seen in the last 20 years.

The report examines the northeastern Alberta community’s housing market following the fire that erupted in May and destroyed more than 2000 structures. CMHC indicates if all the homes destroyed by the fire were rebuilt in one year, along with the usual number of new homes, it would result in about 2,500 housing starts.

That’s more than the previous record of 22-hundred starts in 2007.

Jim Rivait of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association says it typically takes six to nine months to build a house and it will likely take two to three years to finishing rebuilding Fort McMurray’s homes. 

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