Housing sales may have dropped for the third consecutive month in Windsor-Essex, but housing starts soared.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says construction started on 58 single-detached and 305 multi-unit homes in Windsor last month, an increase of 87 per cent and a whopping 1120 per cent.
Overall, actual housing starts increased by 548 per cent in Windsor, while the seasonally adjusted annual rate rose by 195 per cent.
"Windsor has made significant progress so far this year towards meeting it's annual housing start targets," said President fo the Windsor County Association of Realtors Maggie Chen. "Housing starts do not mean these units are ready for families to move in. The overwhelming majority of new starts are apartment-style housing and these developments usually take longer than single family or row housing to complete. So far this year, 86 per cent of new home starts have been apartments."
Chen said the association has been a leading voice urging policy makers to take action on the housing supply and affordability crisis, and called on the city to do a better job encouraging housing development. She said the organization is calling for an end of exclusionary zoning in the city.
The association says sales dropped 17.39 per cent in June as realtors closed the deal on 456 properties, down from 552 a year ago.
So far this year, housing sales have dipped 4.17 per cent.
The average price of a home slipped, but not by much. Last month, it was $571,952. In June 2023, it was $582,087.
Meanwhile, 1,190 property owners put up a For Sale sign, up 4.11 per cent from last year. The number of listings 12 months ago was 1,143.
However, market activity is up 8.83 per cent over the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period one year ago.
When the Windsor Essex County Association of Realtors published its June statistics, 1,838 properties were available in the region.
Provincial and national housing starts fell. In Ontario, ground broke on 44 per cent fewer homes, while national housing starts dropped 13 per cent.
CMHC's Chief Economist, Bob Dugan, blamed higher interest rates.
"The higher interest rate environment appears to have caught up with some of Canada's major centres as lower multi-unit starts, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, drove seasonally adjusted annual rates and trend down in June," he said. "While strong start growth in June and the first half of 2024 in Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal mitigated some of these decreases, we expect continued downward start pressure across Canada throughout 2024."
The Bank of Canada makes its next announcement on its key lending rate on July 24.