Single-family home starts in local area rose in 2017

On the heels of a slowdown for new construction of single-family homes in 2016, builders in the Calgary area saw an uptick in demand last year.

There were shovels in the ground for 4,423 single-family homes in the Calgary census metropolitan area last year, marking 21 per cent growth over its 3,483 starts a year early, says Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

This follows a year-over-year dip of 17 per cent in 2016.

The census metropolitan area counts work from nearby cities and towns, including Chestermere, Airdrie, and Cochrane.

Within Calgary limits, starts rallied to 3,216 from 2,523. Airdrie, Cochrane and Chestermere saw new construction climb, too.

Airdrie’s increased to 542 from 416, and in Cochrane, new builds expanded to 274 from 235. For Chestermere, starts were up to 105 from 81.

“It was up compared to 2016, but 2016 was a pretty weak year,” says Richard Cho, principal of market analysis for CMHC.

Last year’s total fell short of the 10-year average of 5,429 starts.

“Overall, I think there were some opportunities for builders to increase singles starts, especially at the beginning of the year,” says Cho. “Supply was relatively low, in both the new home as well as the resale market. I think that really gave builders a boost in that first half of the year.

“I think demand for housing, whether on the new home or resale side, we saw a lift in 2017.”

New construction of singlefamily homes in the Calgary area made it the second busiest urban centre in Alberta last year, trailing the Edmonton area’s 5,028 starts.

Across Alberta, 12,589 singlefamily homes took root in 2017, improving from 10,010 a year ago, says CMHC.

In the Calgary area, the city’s northwest quadrant carried the pace. It was responsible for 27 per cent of last year’s activity in the area with 1,189 starts on singlefamily homes.

This is the second consecutive year that the northwest has led the city, doing the same with 779 starts in 2016.

In 2017, the northwest quadrant was followed by 724 starts in northeast Calgary, 572 in the southeast, 339 in the Fish Creek area, and 289 in the southwest. Then there were 70 in the North Hill area, 24 in Chinook, six in the Beltline and three downtown.

Along with growth in starts, the Calgary area also topped its 2016 output in completed, under construction, and absorbed singlefamily homes, says CMHC.

It was up compared to 2016, but 2016 was a pretty weak year.

There were 4,014 completed single-family homes, up from 3,640 year over year. Meanwhile, the tally of units under construction rose to 2,858 from 2,209, and absorbed single-family homes increased to 3,941 from 3,615.

The supply of new single-family homes in the Calgary area also ended the year with a higher count than 2016.

There were 453 constructed but unabsorbed single-family homes — which refers to both spec and show homes — compared to 382 last year.

Northwest Calgary was the only end of the Calgary area in triple digits for built but unabsorbed single-family homes with 147, says CMHC. Northeast Calgary had 65, there were 40 in the southeast, 39 in the Fish Creek area, and 28 in the southwest.