Housing starts slow in January
Posted February 8, 2013 9:29 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Housing starts plunged in January, possibly a response to last year’s sharp decline in home sales. Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter says “it might be the most important and telling statistic of the day.”
“We saw the big slide in home sales through the second half of 2012 across the country, and it looks as if builders have responded in one fell swoop with a deep decline in housing starts in January.”
The Vancouver area had a 20 per cent drop in home starts last month to 1,250. Work on single-detached houses actually rose but was overshadowed by a 28 per cent plunge in condo starts compared to a year earlier.
Nationally, there was a 26 per cent drop in home starts.
