Housing starts drop 19 per cent in Lethbridge

LETHBRIDGE – Despite a rebound in multi-family dwellings in December, the city recorded a drop of nearly one-fifth in housing starts in 2016, according to preliminary data released Tuesday, Jan. 10.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) reported 50 single-unit homes were started during the final month of the year in Lethbridge, down from 60 a year earlier, and 26 multi-unit dwellings, up from eight in Dec. 2015. That brings the year-end totals to 486 single-family housing starts, a drop of 14 per cent, and 191 multiples, a decrease of 28 per cent.

The total for Lethbridge was 677, down 19 per cent from 2015. The province as a whole recorded 22,632 urban housing starts (the total for communities of 10,000 or greater population), down 35 per cent from the previous year, though with an increase for December.

Nearly all urban centres in the province showed declines in the yearly totals. Wood Buffalo, which includes fire-ravaged Fort McMurray, appeared to see rebuilding efforts reflected in December’s numbers, with construction begun on 42 single-family homes and ten multiples, up from a total of two in Dec. 2015.