The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) just published its latest housing supply report for Canada’s 6 largest city regions (downloadable over here). One figure that stands out is the increase in housing starts in the Calgary CMA — it was up almost 63% last… Read More
All posts tagged “housing starts”
A nation of apartment dwellers
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recently published its latest data on housing starts, housing under construction, and housing completions. Here are a few of the highlights: Canada saw 271k housing starts last year (2021). This includes single-detached housing and multiples, which captures semi-detached… Read More
Housing supply in Tokyo
It has been well documented that Tokyo tends to build a lot of housing. And the argument goes that this has helped to maintain a certain level of housing affordability. The city is constantly building and rebuilding. It also has different views about housing. Now,… Read More
How Japan increased its housing supply
River Davis’ recent article in the Wall Street Journal about Tokyo’s generally flat home prices had me, again, wondering about demographics. I mean, aren’t their demographics working in reverse? They have an aging population, low immigration, and a low birthrate. But Tokyo, which represents about… Read More
2017 was a record year for housing starts in Canada, but…
According to Bloomberg (using data from CMHC), 2017 was a surprising record year for housing starts in Canada: 219,675 units. This is the most since 2007 and is up from 197,916 units in 2016. The explanation: job growth (nearly 400,000 new jobs) and population growth… Read More
Multifamily vs. single family
Since 2009 when the U.S. economy started to recover, housing starts (i.e. new residential construction) have favored multifamily buildings over single family housing. Apartment/condominium construction has grown 3 times faster according to the U.S. Census Bureau (via Bloomberg). A lot of this multifamily construction is… Read More
Rise of rental
Last month Oxford Properties submitted a site plan application for the redevelopment of the rundown Cumberland Terrace in Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood. If you’d like to browse the full application (including all the drawings), you can do that here. The proposal is a departure from previous… Read More