The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said construction only started on 19 single-detached homes and 14 multi-unit projects in Windsor last month.
Its monthly report, which looks at housing starts in urban centres across the country, said new home construction dropped 41 per cent from March. The drop is even more pronounced compared to last April. It was off 83 per cent.
Housing starts jumped 26 per cent in all urban centres.
In Toronto, new home construction climbed 54 per cent, 43 per cent in Montreal, and 36 per cent in Vancouver.
"While both the seasonally adjusted annual rate and the trend have returned to levels observed before the pandemic, housing starts are expected to drop significantly in 2023 before seeing some recovery in 2024 and 2025," said CMHC's Deputy Chief Economist Aled ab lorwerth. "The expected decline is due to constraints in new construction, including labour shortages, as well as higher construction and borrowing costs for housing developers."
April's results for Windsor are not unexpected. The CMHC's Housing Market Outlook for Spring 2023 suggested a skilled labour shortage would hold housing starts back.
