Compared to the year before, both housing starts and home sales ended on a positive note in 2014 in Windsor-Essex.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says overall housing starts were up 6% last month compared to December 2013. The year-to-date figures show a 14% increase, while multi-unit construction saw the largest gain, 39%.
The numbers are in stark contrast to the 92% drop in multi-unit construction last month in London. For all of 2014, multi-unit starts fell 14%, and overall housing starts in London were down 8%.
Across Ontario, the ground broke on 5% more homes, while national housing starts fell 4% in 2014.
When it comes to housing sales, there was a 4.02% drop in December. For all of 2014, the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors says those figures were up 0.58%. A total of 5187 homes changed hands compared to 5157 in 2013.
The average price of a home in Windsor-Essex, $183,398 in December, was down 1.51% from December 2013 but including all the numbers from last year there was a 4.39% increase.
