According to the results of the latest monthly survey conducted by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), residential construction increased this past month in Quebec’s centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants. In all, 3,880 dwellings were started in December 2011, compared to 3,513 a year earlier. As well, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts for this same month (43,600) was higher than for the month of November (40,000).
The increase in residential construction this past month was entirely attributable to the multiple-unit (semi-detached, row and apartment) housing segment, where starts climbed from 2,609 units in December 2010 to 3,022 units a year later, for an increase of 16 per cent.
The gain registered in the multi-family housing category concealed different realities, however, as semi-detached and row home and rental apartment starts declined while condominium apartment construction posted a notable gain. “Condominiums clearly remained popular in 2011. That said, given the current and future demand, the pace will slow down this year,” said Kevin Hughes, Senior Economist at CMHC for Quebec.
Single-detached home starts, for their part, fell by 5 per cent from December 2010, with half of the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in the province having recorded losses. The results were equally mixed in the larger census agglomerations (CAs).
In 2011, residential construction in Quebec’s urban centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants was down by 4 per cent compared to the year before. This result essentially reflected the decrease in single-detached home starts (-14 per cent), since multi-unit housing starts, driven by condominium activity, rose slightly year over year (+1 per cent).
The annual results also showed that condominium construction reached record levels in the Montréal, Québec and Trois-Rivières CMAs, as well as in the Saint-Hyacinthe CA.