Building starts down across province
Province endures Canada’s largest year-on-year drop in construction
Saskatchewan home builders had a rough fall season, with the province posting the biggest yearon-year drop in new housing construction nationwide.
The data came from a Statistics Canada release on November housing construction. Canada as a whole saw $5 billion in homebuilding that month, up $365 million from the same time in 2016. Most of that was new apartment builds.
All but three provinces saw stronger numbers in 2017. Newfoundland and Labrador saw the biggest drop in terms of percentage, but Saskatchewan experienced the biggest loss in terms of dollars.
New housing construction was worth $98.7 million in Saskatchewan last November, a decrease of $10.5 million — or 9.6 per cent — compared to November 2016.
John Lax, spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Construction Association, said the drop was actually less severe than he expected.
“Home builders build homes when people want to buy them,” he said. “There was a lot of inventory in the multi-dwelling sector that has to be absorbed.”
Lax said he expects a turnaround this year, with consumer confidence already pointing in the right direction. But, he said, builders are likely to proceed with caution.
“We should be looking at a much improved 2018,” he said. “But until we start seeing the money flow ... I don’t think we should be throwing any parades yet.”
Alberta may be in a more festive mood, with its stronger recovery already turning up in the housing stats. Our western neighbours built $728.3 million worth of housing in November, a year-on-year increase of 16.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, November wasn’t the first month Saskatchewan fell short of 2016 figures. September and October were down too, though by smaller margins.
A drop in single-family home construction accounted for most of the downward trend in Saskatchewan. Construction of row houses and apartments was up slightly in November, compared to 2016. That matched national patterns.