October was another big month for home builders in the London area.
According to figures released Tuesday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, work began on a total of 413 new homes in the London Census Metropolitan area last month. That compares to 214 in October of last year.
The London CMA includes London, St. Thomas, Central Elgin, Southwold Township, Strathroy-Caradoc, Thames Centre, Middlesex Centre, and Adelaide-Metcalfe.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 2,698 housing starts in the area. To this point in 2015, that figure was 1,876. The CHMC expects total housing starts in the London CMA in 2016 will eclipse 3,000.
“The trend measure was at its highest level in just over ten years, due to a high number of homes started in apartment structures in October," said Anthony Passarelli, senior market analyst with CMHC. "The majority of the apartment starts this month were in the condominium market. Homeownership demand has increased this year as the result of higher full-time employment. The number of resale condominium apartments listed for sale was too low for the higher level of demand, allowing builders to sell a higher number of new condominium apartments.”
In October, work began on 117 single-detached homes, while the figure for multiple-unit dwellings was 296.
