WINNIPEG — Local homebuilders were putting up new single- and multi-family homes like they were going out of style in May, according to new data released today.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said there were 685 new housing units started last month in the Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area, which includes Winnipeg and 10 surrounding municipalities.
That was a whopping 80.7 per cent increase from the 379 units started in April, and was far and away the industry’s busiest month so far in 2012.
CMHC said the surge in activity was evident on both sides of the new-homes market. Single-detached starts spiked by 50 per cent to 255 units from 170 units in April, while the number of multi-family starts more than doubled to 430 units from 209.
“With the inventory of new homes remaining relatively low, builders continue to produce new single-detached homes in response to demand,” said Dianne Himbeault, CMHC’s senior market analyst for Manitoba.
Himbeault said that with May’s strong showing, housing starts in the Winnipeg CMA were running 49.7 per cent ahead of last year’s pace after the first five months of 2012 — 1,692 units versus 1,130.
Nationally, CMHC said the pace of home construction cooled in Canada in May after a strong showing in April.
It says the May figure of 19,264 estimated actual starts was more in line with the pace of the previous six months.
On a seasonally adjusted annual basis, May starts hit 211,400 compared with 243,800 in April. The adjusted figure smooths out seasonal fluctuations and calculates an annual figure as if the monthly number held steady for a year.
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
— with files by Canadian Press
