Local housing construction continued to decline in January

Feb 18, 2025 | 12:56 PM

Greater Vernon did not start 2025 off strong in terms of housing construction, though increases were recorded provincially and nationally.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said there were just five new housing project starts locally in January.

That was down from the nine home construction projects started in December of 2024, and from the 12 starts in January of 2024.

It also marked the second consecutive January with declining housing construction after 19 project starts were recorded in the month in question in 2023.

The Greater Vernon projects started in the most recent reporting month involved four single family homes and one apartment project.

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The Greater Kelowna area saw a total of 360 housing projects started in January, which CMHC said was up when compared to the same month the year prior.

Meanwhile, British Columbia and Canada as a whole saw housing construction increase in January.

CMHC said there were 3,099 housing project starts in B.C. during the latest reporting month. That figure was down from the 3,743 starts recorded in December, but was up from the 2,262 starts recorded in January of 2024.

Canada had a total of 15,390 housing starts in January of 2024. That was also down from the 16,531 starts in December, though was up from the 14,883 projects started last January.

CMHC’s data noted B.C.’s housing sector was mainly focused on apartments, which made up 2,434 of the projects in January. The data showed row houses made up 281 of the projects, 264 were single family homes, and 120 were semi-detached houses.

by Liam Verster

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