A jump in both single-family home and apartment construction added up to a busier October for home builders in the London area.
Figures released Monday by the Canada Mortage and Housing Corporation show work began on a total of 214 new homes in the London Census Metropolitan Area, which includes London, St. Thomas, Central Elgin, Southwold Township, Strathroy-Caradoc, Thames Centre, Middlesex Centre, and Adelaide-Metcalfe.
In October of 2014, work started on 152 new homes.
The CMHC says, of the 214 housing starts, 123 were single detached homes and 91 were multiple unit dwellings. That compares to 105 single detached homes and 47 multiple unit dwellings in October of last year.
“The strongest upward trend in housing starts over the past six months has been in row home starts," says Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC. "A relatively low number of completed and unsold new row homes and an undersupplied resale market in the $200,000 to $350,000 price range have supported higher row home starts."
So far this year, work has begin on 1,876 new homes in the London CMA. At this time last year, that figure was 1,688.