February St. John's Real Estate Market

St. John's housing starts were affected by weather in February, according to preliminary data released by Canada Mortgage and Housing orporation (CMHC). For the month of February, a total of 63 housing starts were recorded across provincial urban centres, down nine per cent over February of 2006. Within the St. John’s metropolitan area, housing starts pulled back 12 per cent with 61 units recorded in February versus 69 during the same period last year. However, of the total number of starts recorded, 40 were condos at a new condominium development in St. John’s. In terms of the key single-detached segment, there were only 17 new homes started in February compared to 41 last year, a drop of 59 per cent. “Clearly, it was impossible for local builders to maintain any reasonable level of new home construction, given the huge amount of snow that fell within the St. John’s region during the month of February,” said Chris Janes, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC in Newfoundland and Labrador. “With January’s good results and the solid economic climate within the metro area, we expected this month to be on par with the level of residential construction activity recorded in February of 2006,” added Janes. For Canada’s urban centres, total housing starts stumbled 24 per cent in February over February of 2006. Single-detached starts fell 26 per cent to 4,389, while multiple starts of 5,047 represent a 22 per cent decline compared to last February. In Atlantic Canada, there were 278 urban housing starts, down seven per cent over the same month last year.