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By Liam Verster

12 Projects In August

Vernon’s housing construction still down on an annual basis

Sep 20, 2024 | 10:15 AM

August saw another month with year-over-year declines in local housing construction.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported just 12 housing project starts in Greater Vernon in August.

That was down from 51 project starts in July, and less than half the 30 housing starts recorded in August of 2023.

The housing projects started in the latest reporting month included six single homes, two semi-detached houses, and four row houses.

To date, a total of 117 housing projects had been started in Greater Vernon this year.

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That was also well down from the 269 housing starts from January 1 to August 31 in 2023.

CMHC reported a total of 68 housing starts in Kelowna in the latest monthly report as well. Those included 54 single homes, six semi-detached houses, and eight apartments.

The province and the nation also saw year-over-year declines to housing construction in August.

CMHC’s report stated there were 2,628 housing starts in British Columbia, part of the 16,857 starts recorded throughout Canada.

Those were down from August of 2023’s figures of 3,805 starts in B.C. and 19,375 across Canada.

In total, B.C. has seen 28,757 housing projects started in 2024. That was down from the 31,891 starts recorded in the same period of 2023.

However, Canada has seen housing project starts climb, with 149,680 projects recorded as of August 31, 2024, compared to 143,059 in the first eight months of the year prior.

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