House construction down in 2012 as prices go up

A view of the evacuated Penhorwood condominium buildings/Penhorwood.ca

Housing construction continues to slow down in the region, while prices continue to climb.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says there were 18% fewer housing starts last year compared to 2011.

But the year finished strong, with 162 new projects in December compared to 66 a year ago.

But there were only 27 newly completed units that month, compared to 55 in December of 2011.

They were all single-detached, selling at an average of more than 812 thousand dollars.

That’s nine and a half percent higher than last year.

January 22, 2013