January was another busy month for home builders in the London area, but it seems much of their work was on apartments and condominiums.
Figures released Wednesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show work began on 522 new homes in the London Census Metropolitan Area last month. That's a considerable increase from the 112 housing starts in January of 2016.
But of the 522 homes being built last month, only 61 were single detached homes.
“A large number of apartment starts in January pushed up the trend measure to an unusually high level," said Anthony Passarelli, senior market analyst with CMHC. "New condominium apartments are being built in response to the shortage of homes listed for sale in the $250,000 to $350,000 price range, while new rental apartments are being built in response to London’s lowest vacancy rate since 2003."
In 2016, local housing starts eclipsed 3,000 for the first time in nearly a decade. The CMHC is predicting 2017 will see housing starts in the London CMA approach 4,000.