Local housing construction slowed massively in November

Dec 17, 2025 | 11:19 AM

Greater Vernon saw the housing construction sector slow significantly in November.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said there were just seven housing projects started locally in the most recent reporting month.

The agency said that was down from the 98 starts recorded in November of 2024.

The dip in November has also led to a total of 206 housing starts locally so far this year. Comparatively, Greater Vernon saw 259 starts recorded in the same period of 2024.

The projects started locally this most recent month involved four single houses, two semi-detached homes, and one apartment.

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CMHC also stated there were 15 housing projects completed this past November, though did not provide figures from 2024 for comparison. The projects completed in the most recent reporting month involved nine single houses, four semi-detached homes, and two apartments.

Elsewhere in the Okanagan, CMHC said Kelowna saw 214 housing starts in November, which was up compared to the same month the year before.

However, a total of 2,528 housing projects had been started in the Central Okanagan city so far this year, which CMHC said was down from the same period in 2024.

There were also 698 housing projects completed in Kelowna this November, which CMHC said was up on an annual basis.

Additionally, Kelowna’s average apartment vacancy rate was recorded at 6.4 per cent in November. CMHC noted the one-bedroom vacancy rate was 8.4 per cent, the rate for two-bedroom units was 5.2 per cent, and the three-bedroom vacancy rate was 4.8 per cent.

CMHC did not provide vacancy rate data for Vernon in its most recent report.

by Liam Verster

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