Local housing construction soared in August

Sep 18, 2025 | 11:35 AM

The housing construction sector was busy in August.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said there were 53 housing projects started in Greater Vernon during the latest reporting month.

That was up from 22 starts in July, and well above the 12 housing projects started in August of 2024.

To date, there have been 173 housing starts in Greater Vernon, which was also up from the 117 starts recorded in the same period the year before.

The projects started this past August involved 36 row houses, 10 single homes, four semi-detached houses, and three apartments.

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Meanwhile, Kelowna saw housing construction decline in August, with CMHC only reporting 26 new starts through the month. That marked a significant drop from 197 starts in July, with the agency saying it was also down on an annual basis but without providing the figures from August 2024.

To date, there have been 2,037 housing starts recorded in Kelowna, which CMHC also said was down compared to the same period the previous year.

While Kelowna saw housing construction decline in August, the province and the nation saw trends more in line with Vernon.

CMHC said there were 3,667 housing starts in B.C., and 18,408 new housing projects started across the country this past August.

Those were both up from the same month the year before when B.C. recorded 2,645 starts and the country saw 16,775 projects started.

The to-date figures were also up both provincially and nationally. B.C. saw 28,862 housing starts as of the end of August, which was up from 28,792 the year before. Canada as a whole recorded a total of 156,285 project starts as of the end of the most recent reporting month, up from 149,636 in the first eight months of 2024.

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by Liam Verster

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