Housing Starts decline in Calgary, along with the rest of the country

CALGARY - The Conference Board of Canada predicts widespread housing starts declines over the short term across the country, including Calgary.

In releasing its Metropolitan Monthly Monitors report on Monday, the board said housing starts were down in 13 of 27 markets on a year-over-year basis in November.

Besides the Calgary census metropolitan area, the board listed the following centres as having negative short-term expectations: Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, Winnipeg, Regina, Victoria and Abbotsford.

Only Thunder Bay, Saskatoon and Vancouver were listed as having positive short-term expectations.

Recently, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported total housing starts in the Calgary region were 33. 3 per cent off in November from what they were a year ago. The single-detached market decreased by 39.4 per cent while the multiple-family market was down 17.1 per cent.