Building starts down across province

Saskatchewan homebuilders 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 came from new apartment builds.

All but three provinces saw stronger numbers in 2017. Newfoundland and Labrador saw the biggest per cent drop, 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. His association represents the commercial and industrial sectors, but he said the same issue has been plaguing homebuilders: low demand in a resource-price-driven downturn.

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.

Alberta may be in a more festive mood. Our western neighbours built $728.3 million worth of housing in November, a year-onyear increase of 16.9 per cent. In per cent terms, that was stronger than any province besides Prince Edward Island. Alberta also led in dollar terms.

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.