Steve Payne
New home construction surges in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland
Canadian Contractor FinancialsBoth Saskatchewan and Newfoundland had seen their new homes numbers depressed by last fall's plunge in energy prices, so the May new homes results were unexpected.
Wow, look at these numbers.
The CMHC, in its May housing starts report, indicates that Saskatchewan new home starts were up 42.6 per cent in May versus April, and 63.8 per cent in Newfoundland. The results are “seasonally adjusted” – meaning weather conditions are statistically adjusted for.
The new homes surges in Newfoundland and Saskatchewan might be good news for other provinces which are similarly energy-dependent. Since the price of oil plunged last fall, housing starts in the energy provinces (Alberta especially) dropped 25 per cent.
Alberta’s housing starts were up 3.8 per cent in May, an encouraging sign for the province hardest hit by lower oil and gas prices.
For an excellent report on the CMHC’s numbers see a National Post article here.
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