Are the good times coming to a close?
That’s the question being asked after the release of a new Conference Board of Canada report, which suggests housing growth rates in Waterloo Region are slower than those in most major Canadian cities.
Conference Board of Canada analysts say housing’s also going up locally at a slower rate than it has in the recent past.
“What they have seen this month is that housing starts in Kitchener are down over where they were a year ago, and also down versus where they were on a three-month and six-month average,” says Conference Board of Canada senior economist Jane McIntyre.
In March 2012, 4,304 new housing starts were reported in Waterloo Region for the past 12 months. In the 12 months since, only 748 have been reported.
Despite that 82 per cent drop, the Conference Board of Canada says the long-term outlook for the local housing market is positive.
Mike Seiling, the City of Kitchener’s director of building, says a dip was inevitable after years of high building activity, but adds that the dip is not indicative of a larger trend.
“We believe the correction will be soft and will only last a short period of time,” he says.
At Fusion Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in the area, vice-president of planning and development Larry Kotseff agrees.
“We would become a little bit more concerned if this continues through a new of quarters through 2013 and into 2014,” he tells CTV.
Seiling points to new condo developments like One Victoria Street and City Centre Condominiums as a sign that housing starts will be back on the rise before long.
