Housing starts finish 2004 at 17-year high.
January 11, 2005 - The pace of new home construction across Canada eased off in December, according to a report Tuesday, but that failed to keep 2004 from achieving a 17-year high in housing starts.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that housing starts last month added up to a seasonally adjusted 234,400 units, down 3.4 per cent from a revised 242,600 in November.
However, December's total was still higher than the 226,000 expected by analysts and far above the benchmark for a healthy market of 200,000.
"New home construction posted a 17-year high in 2004 with an estimated 233,000 starts representing 6.7-per-cent growth over 2003," Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC's market analysis centre, said in a statement.
The record total for 2004 isn't expected to be topped in 2005, as more balanced market conditions and higher mortgage rates are expected to cool demand for new housing.
Housing starts are expected to fall about 9.8 per cent from 2004's levels this year to around 210,200. Existing home sales are also expected to ease, leading to higher inventories of homes for sale and providing a greater range of choice for consumers.
In December declines were seen at both ends of the market. Urban starts for single-family homes, which are typically the most expensive, fell 0.9 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 102,200 units. Starts of urban multi-family units, which include cheaper forms of housing such as rowhousing, fell by 8.1 per cent to an annual rate of 103,700 units.
Rural starts were estimated at an annual rate of 28,500 units for the month.
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