London bucks provincial trend as housing starts climb

Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows housing construction in London is hotter than ever.

Housing starts are up 10 per cent year over year with a massive increase in single-detached homes in particular, which were up 31 per cent.

Single-detached homes increased from 175 in June 2016 to 229 last month, while 336 other housing starts were reported last June – a decrease of just two compared to the previous year.

Total housing starts increased from 513 in June 2016 to 565 in June 2017.

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Across Ontario, the numbers average out to an eight per cent decrease mostly due to a big drop in Toronto, where total housing starts decreased year over year by 22 per cent.

Construction of single detached homes fell two per cent from 1,086 to 1,059 year over year while all others fell from 2,962 to 2,108 – a drop of 29 per cent.

The huge drop in housing starts mirrors the drop in homes sales in the Greater Toronto Area, which plunged 37.3 per cent last month compared with a year ago — the largest drop in eight years.

The data comes after the Ontario government implemented a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax on homes in the Golden Horseshoe.

In a similar fashion, the local housing construction market is benefiting from a red-hot real estate market in London-St. Thomas.

The London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR) says it saw the highest number of monthly sales ever in May, which was also the fifth consecutive month of record sales.