The Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation says October saw an upward trend in housing starts. However, the CHMC's Chief Economist continues to warn the country needs to find innovative ways to close the supply gap.
"Despite the upward trend in October, driven once again by persistent multi-unit starts activity off-setting declines in single-detached starts, actual year-to-date starts are down," said Bob Dugan.
The corporation said actual year-to-date housing starts declined 7 per cent in cities and towns with a population of 10,000 or more. It blames fewer single-detached starts.
The CMHC complements the seasonally adjusted annual rates measure with the trend measure to account for swings in monthly estimates and to get a clearer picture of the upcoming housing supply.
Windsor bucked the trend. Seasonally adjusted at annual rates show single-detached starts climbed 15 per cent last month from October 2022. Construction started on 414 homes compared to 361 a year ago.
The increase is far more pronounced when it comes to multi-unit projects. In October 2022, ground broke on 132 compared to 1,163 last month, an increase of 1,163 per cent.
Across the province, housing starts fell 12 per cent compared to October 2022, while nationally, they only grew 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, housing sales in Windsor-Essex dipped 4.92 per cent last month, the second consecutive month they fell. So far this year, those figures have only been up in July and August. The Windsor Essex County Association of Realtors said sales are down 16.74 per cent so far this year.
The good news is that realtors were busier. Listings rose 18.94 per cent in October.
The average price of a home in the region fell again last month, just slightly, off 1.98 per cent. So far, they've dropped 10.91 per cent this year from $629,726 in October 2022 to $561,052.
