April housing starts show unusual new trend

Housing starts in Greater Sudbury were down slightly in April compared to the month before, but in an encouraging sign, the units being built are single-family homes.

According to statistics released by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp., starts were trending at 247 units in April, compared to 297 units in March and 361 in February. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.

It reflects how many units would be built in a year if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months.

"Housing construction in Sudbury on a year-to-date basis remained unchanged," said Aris Gianneskis, CMHC's Market Analyst for Sudbury, in a news release. “Particularly encouraging is that all starts up to now were single detached compared to last year's multiple units dominated starts.

“Single detached construction appears to be steady with more construction taking place in New Sudbury supported by consumer preferences and greater land availability."

That's a change from the last few years, when developers were primarily building multi-residential units, a reflection of higher demand from the city aging population, many of whom are selling their homes and are looking to move into apartments. Over the last five years, CMHC figures show that 90 per cent of starts in Greater Sudbury were multi-residential units.

Development charges have also played a role, after charges on single-family homes soared in 2009, from about $3,000 per home to around $14,000. City council froze development charges this year in an effort to help local builders.