Home builders in the London area had a quieter month of July than they did last year.
According to figures released Tuesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, work began on 118 new homes in the London census metropolitan area (which also includes St. Thomas, Central Elgin, Southwold Township, Strathroy-Caradoc, Thames Centre, Middlesex Centre, and Adelaide-Metcalfe) last month.
That compares to 270 in July 2014.
The decrease was largely the result of a drop in construction of multiple-unit dwellings.
Despite the drop, the CMHC says the home building sector isn't in bad shape. It says the trend in housing starts in the London CMA was steady at 2,203 units in July compared to 2,212 in June. The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.
“The housing starts trend remained close to annual household formation estimates for London," says Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC. "The majority of households added in London have two persons or fewer, which is one factor explaining why starts of smaller homes, such as row homes, have gained share at the expense of single detached starts."
