The fourth quarter of 2008 began with declines in most segments of the housing market in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) as both single starts and existing home sales declined compared to last year.  Rental apartment starts was the only segment to record gains in October compared to October 2007.

There were 178 starts in HRM compared to 210 in October of last year, which represents a 15 per cent decline.  There were fewer starts in all segments of the market with the exception of rental apartments, which saw an increase of 17 per cent, with 70 units started compared to 60 last year.  Single starts declined by 7.4 per cent with 88 starts last month compared to 95 in October 2007 while there were no row unit starts and 16 semi-detached units started, compared to 18 and 19 last October respectively.

On a year-to-date basis, overall starts remain 12.5 per cent off last year's pace due to the sharp decline in multiples this year which trail last year's levels by 30 per cent.  Two highlights of the year remain in the single-detached and row housing segments of the market which, after ten months of the year, remain up by 11 and 44 per cent respectively.  Also of note, the number of single-detached units under construction in HRM as of October is more than 50 percent higher than last year, with 837 units under construction compared to 552.  In the condo market, despite the fact there have only been 136 apartment-style condo starts this year compared to 298 last year, there remains 526 units under construction in HRM compared to 467 at this point in time last year.

To viewing entire article go to www.cmhc.ca and look for Housing Now-Halifax CMA-Date released: November 2008.