Housing starts in Calgary drop 28% from last year

There have been almost a third fewer housing starts in the Calgary area so far this year compared to last year, according to the latest figures.

Actual housing starts totalled 10,909 in the first 10 months of the year, down 28 per cent from the same period in 2014, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported Monday.

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But on a month-to-month basis, there was an upward trend from13,780 units in October compared to 13,050 in September.

"Housing starts trended higher in October as both single-detached and multi-family construction rose from the previous month," said Richard Cho,CMHC's principal market analystfor Calgary in a release.

"Despite the increase from a month earlier, the pace of construction through most of this year has been below 2014 levels due to a rise in supply and a slowdown in migration and employment growth."

Last month, CMHC predicted housing starts would plummet even further to about 10,000 both next year and in 2017.