THUNDER BAY -- The home construction season in Thunder Bay is winding down, and its looks like this year may see its lowest number of single-detached home starts since the year 2000.
According to officials from Canada Mortgage and Housing, construction numbers continue to drop for both single family and multi-unit residences.
For the first nine months of the year, there's been a 23 per cent drop in total starts compared to 2015.
CMHC Market Analyst Warren Philp said the city has an ever-aging population, with more homes on the resale market, and local employment numbers have remained flat since 2014.
There were just 21 new home starts in September, including 15 single-detached units.
“It’s showing much of what we’ve seen in the last nine months in the city for the year so far,” Philp said.
“The starts activity is down somewhat, especially in the single-family side, still reasonable on the multi-unit side, but it’s down as well.”
Philp added that over the past couple of years the starts are trending down.
Since 2012, the number of new single-detached homes has dropped about 35 per cent, and Philp is predicting we could match the record low year of 141 homes built in 2000.
The forecast for home construction in 2017 will be released by the CMHC later this month.
(TBT News)
