Local housing construction remains down

Aug 19, 2026 | 6:00 AM

Housing construction activity in Greater Vernon saw an uptick in July, but it wasn’t enough to close the year-to-date gap.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported a total of 13 housing projects were started locally in July.

That was the same number recorded this June as well as the same figure reported in July of 2025.

The latest projects involved six single family houses, three row houses, two semi-detached homes, and two apartments.

To date, there have been 101 housing projects started in Greater Vernon, down compared to the 120 in the same period the year prior.

Housing Starts

Local housing construction remains down

54m ago

Persistent Risks

RDNO urges preparation amid ongoing wildfire risk

13h ago

Wildfire Update

Flare-ups expected but no growth forecasted at Bradley and Quilipituk Creeks wildfires

18h ago

Additionally, there were 31 housing projects completed locally in July, for a year to date total of 194 completions. In July of 2025 there were just eight homes completed, and CMHC did not have annual data for this category.

Greater Vernon had a total of 224 housing projects under construction as of the end of the latest reporting month.

Kelowna

Meanwhile, Kelowna saw housing construction fall in July.

CMHC said there were 115 housing starts in the Central Okanagan city during the latest reporting month. That was down from the 207 starts and down from the projects launched in July of 2025, though CMHC did not provide a specific figure for that month.

CMHC also said a total of 1,258 housing starts had been recorded in Kelowna between January 1 and July 31, which it said was also down from an unspecified figure during the same period the year before.

However, CMHC said there were 702 housing projects completed in July, which was up on an annual basis.

A total of 4,302 housing projects remained under construction in Kelowna as of the end of July.

Provincial & National Figures

Housing construction also saw big slow-downs in B.C. and across Canada this past July.

CMHC said a total of 2,396 housing projects were started in British Columbia this July, down from 4,553 starts in the same month the year before.

Across Canada there were 18,834 housing starts in the latest reporting month, down from 23,135 in July of 2025.

Year-to-date totals were also down with 22,498 housing starts in B.C. and 131,851 across Canada as of the end of July, compared to 25,185 and 137,548, respectively, in 2025.

by Liam Verster

View Comments