Winter weather cools off Lethbridge housing starts
Bitter weather has curtailed home builders across Alberta. Housing starts during the first three months of 2018 have slipped in Lethbridge along with Calgary and Edmonton.
But Lethbridge continues to lead the province’s mid-sized cities. And analysts at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. are expecting to see between 590 and 716 homes started in Lethbridge and area by year’s end.
In March, however, the pace slowed as winter continued its grip. The CMHC reports a total of 41 housing units were begun in the Lethbridge census area, down from 59 a year earlier. The same was true for metro Calgary (831 last month vs. 1,143 in March 2017) and for Edmonton — where March starts fell to 648 compared to 1,160 a year earlier.
Over the first three months, the housing agency says, 119 units were started in the Lethbridge region. That includes Coaldale, Coalhurst and other Lethbridge County communities. All but 18 were inside city limits.
That first-quarter result compares with 140 starts over the first three months of 2017. Other mid-sized cities saw reductions as well.
In the Red Deer census area, where 52 homes were started a year ago, this year’s tally was 41 at the end of March. Grande Prairie slipped to 14 from 24.
But Medicine Hat is bucking the trend, with 21 starts this year vs. 13 over the first quarter of 2017.
Massive rebuilding continues in Fort McMurray, meanwhile, with 379 housing units — 303 of them multiple-family units — launched over the first three months. That’s a significant jump from 282 starts by that point last year, when contractors were already busy replacing homes lost to the 2016 wildfire.
Multi-family units also account for a majority of the starts this year in the Calgary region, by a margin of 1,133 compared with 927 singlefamily homes. It’s a little closer to balanced in Edmonton, with 1,188 multi-units and 1,012 single homes started over the first three months.
Single-family homes predominate in Alberta’s other midsized cities. In Lethbridge and region, first-quarter starts counted 87 single-family homes and 32 multiples.
Based on Lethbridge starts over the last year, CMHC officials now say the region is “trending” toward 716 housing starts over the year. Based on a six-month seasonally adjusted average, however, that number could be closer to 590 starts by year’s end.
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