London eyes record housing starts

January 8, 2018

Home builders in London are flirting with a record pace of housing starts, despite an October stumble.
As of November 1, the southern Ontario city had reported 3,124 starts, surpassing the total of 3,116 in all of 2016, which was the highest since 2008.
If the current construction level had continued, London would have surpassed the all-time record of 3,674 housing starts in 2007.
But the pace faltered in October as multi-family units dropped to 42 units, down sharply from the 226 in October 2016 when a large multi-family project started.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. analyst Amran Wali said single-detached starts in the London area, at 144 units in October, were the highest levels for the month of October since 2007.
“Strong population growth and a low supply of resale home listings have strengthened demand for new single-detached homes, encouraging builders to continue to keep single-detached starts elevated over recent months,” he said.
New home starts have been boosted by a strong resale market in 2017 especially earlier in the year.