October Housing Starts in New Brunswick

MONCTON, Nov. 9 /CNW/ - According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC's) preliminary data(1) released today, residential construction in November produced a total of 262 starts in New Brunswick's urban centres compared to 381 units during the same period last year.

"The year-over-year decline in single and multiple starts observed in October maintained a trend established early in the year, a trend that is likely to remain to the end of 2009," said Claude Gautreau , CMHC's senior market analyst for New Brunswick . Single starts in provincial urban centres during the month of October were down 24 per cent from last year's level to 150 units. Year-to-date, single starts were down 23 per cent to 1,127 units.

Meanwhile, a total of 112 multiple starts were recorded in October of this year, down 39 per cent from the 183 units recorded during the same month in 2008. Year-to-date to the end of October multiples were down 20 per cent compared to the same period last year. "The reduced activity in residential construction was not unexpected, as both single and multiple starts saw comparable declines to the end of October," continued Gautreau.

In urban centres across Canada , total housing starts in October declined by 19 per cent, down to 14,090 units compared to last year's total of 17,389. Single-detached starts were up 2 per cent to 6,536 units, while multiple unit starts were down 31 per cent from 10,978 units last year to 7,554 units this year. In the Atlantic region, 788 new units were started in October 2009 compared to 950 units during the same period in 2008.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making vital decisions.

    
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    1 Figures for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to
      revisions due to corrections or updates from quarterly enumeration or
      sampling results.


    For more information, visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1 800 668-2642.

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                   PRELIMINARY URBAN MONTHLY HOUSING STARTS
                           NEW BRUNSWICK SUMMARY
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                          2009    2008              YEAR-TO-DATE
                          ------------   % Change   ------------   % Change
                           OCT     OCT              2009    2008
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           ALL URBAN CENTRES WITH POPULATIONS GREATER THAN 50,000
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    SAINT JOHN CMA
    Single                  29      57     -49,1%    301     421      -28,5%
    Multiple                16      15       6,7%    270     320      -15,6%
    TOTAL                   45      72     -37,5%    571     741      -22,9%
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    MONCTON CMA
    Single                  58      74     -21,6%    357     490      -27,1%
    Multiple                44     146     -69,9%    406     739      -45,1%
    TOTAL                  102     220     -53,6%    763   1 229      -37,9%
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    FREDERICTON CA
    Single                  44      51     -13,7%    328     415      -21,0%
    Multiple                52      15       (XX)    324     166       95,2%
    TOTAL                   96      66      45,5%    652     581       12,2%
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           ALL URBAN CENTRES WITH POPULATION GREATER THAN 10,000(X)
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    ALL CENTRES

    Single                 150     198     -24,2%  1 127   1 456      -22,6%
    Multiple               112     183     -38,8%  1 063   1 324      -19,7%
    TOTAL                  262     381     -31,2%  2 190   2 780      -21,2%
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    Figures for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to
    revisions due to corrections or updates from quarterly enumeration or
    sampling results.

    (X)  Includes all centres with a total population of more than 10,000
         (Saint John CMA, Moncton CMA, Fredericton CA, Bathurst CA,
         Campbellton CA, Edmundston CA, and Miramichi City).
    (XX) Indicates changes in excess of 100% which are not reported due to
         volatility resulting from small absolute numbers.
    

For further information: on this release: Claude Gautreau, CMHC Market Analysis Centre, [phone], Cell: [phone], [email protected]