New home construction remains slow in Greater Vernon

May 15, 2024 | 12:00 PM

April was another slow month for new housing construction in Greater Vernon.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported just 13 housing starts in Vernon in April of 2024.

While up from the six starts in March, April’s figure was less that a fifth of the 67 housing starts recorded locally in the same month in 2023.

The data showed there were six single-family houses, four row homes, two semi-detached homes and one apartment started locally in April.

To date, a total of 35 housing projects have been started in Greater Vernon. That figure is well below the 138 project starts during the first four months of 2023.

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Canadian analysts say high interest rates and rising construction and labour costs are factors in the lower numbers.

Provincial and national data also showed slight declines on a year-over-year basis in April.

CMHC reported 4,485 starts in B.C. and 18,486 starts across Canada last month. Those were below the totals of 5,020 in the province and 20,231 across the nation in April of 2023.

However, unlike in Vernon, the year-to-date total for B.C. was relatively flat, while Canada’s was higher than the previous year.

CMHC reported 15,230 starts across B.C. in the first four months of 2024, down slightly from the 15,551 housing project starts recorded during the same period of 2023.

Nationally, there have been 67,875 housing project starts so far this year, up from the 64,029 recorded across Canada the year before.

by Liam Verster

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