Home building remains strong
It’s official: Lethbridge home builders are leading the pack.
Year-end figures from the nation’s housing market experts show more homes were built in Lethbridge and area in 2017 than in Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie combined.
Calgary builders are enjoying a boom as well, outpacing their Edmonton counterparts after a slowdown lasting several years.
And Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports show Fort McMurray builders are rapidly replacing homes lost to the devastating wildfire in 2016.
The federal agency’s “preliminary actual” tallies show 769 housing units started in the Lethbridge census area in 2017 — up nearly 100 from 677 starts in 2016.
The number of single-family homes launched, 467, was just one more than a year earlier. But the number of homes built as part of a townhouse, apartment building, condo or the like jumped to 282, up about 90 from a year earlier.
The CMHC reports 640 of the overall 769 were here in the city, with most of the remainder built in Coaldale or Coalhurst.
“The Lethbridge market is very strong compared to other centres, which is due primarily to its economic diversity,” says Kristen DeMone, executive officer of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association — Lethbridge Region.
“People who live in Lethbridge and migrate to Lethbridge are working in many different industries. We have a strong agricultural base, a large public sector and a strong industrial base.”
Lethbridge remains a strong entrepreneurial community, she adds, and that also contributes a great deal to its vibrancy.
DeMone reports the residential construction industry looks to continue to innovate and lead the way throughout 2018.
“We continue to see a strong local market that is working through barriers, including rising interest rates and additional mortgage regulations.”
Both of Alberta’s metro areas showed significant growth in 2017, with the Edmonton census area recording 11,435 housing starts (up from 10,036) while greater Calgary took the lead with 11,534 (up from 9,245). Builders in both cities focused on multi-family projects, with 6,407 units begun in Edmonton and 7,111 in Calgary.
Single-family home starts were up in the Red Deer census area, 203 vs. 163 in 2016. But multifamily projects slumped from 212 starts to 128 — for a total of 331 housing units over the year.
Medicine Hat was down as well, with a total of 140 starts (101 of them single-family) compared with 160 a year earlier. And in Grande Prairie, the 146 single-family starts showed an improvement over 108 in 2016, but a decline in multi-family units (from 126 to 48) dropped the overall tally to 194 starts.
The year’s bright spot was Fort McMurray, where 926 single-family homes were started (vs. 91 in 2016) along with 699 multi-family units (44 in 2016) to replace buildings lost in the fire.
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