Residential Starts Declined While
Sales Increased in November

The housing market in the Halifax
Regional Municipality (HRM) posted
mixed results in November as total
housing starts declined while existing
home sales and prices increased.

New Construction:
Total housing starts declined for
the second consecutive month in
November and for the fifth time this
year. Builders broke ground on 126
new units last month, a decline of 26
per cent compared to last year. The
decline in total starts was attributed
to a decrease in rental apartment
construction as there were no new
apartment starts in November
compared to 59 last year. In the single
detached segment of the market,
starts increased for the first time
since June as 83 starts were reported
compared to 71 a year ago. Housing
starts in the semi-detached and row
segment of the market recorded little
change last month as 43 starts were
reported compared to 41 last year.
There we no new condominium starts
in November.
Year-to-date, there were 2,446 total
housing starts reported in the HRM,
which represents a seven per cent
increase over last year. Through the
first 11 months of the year, single
detached starts decreased over
12 per cent to 831 starts. Despite
the decline in singles, the multiples
segment of the market continued
to record year-over-year increases.
Condominium starts increased from
98 to 157 and apartment rental unit
construction increased from 943 units
last year to 1,182 year-to-date in 2011.
Due to the completion of 80 apartment
style condominium units in November,
the total number of apartments under
construction declined to 1,890 units
from 1,970 in October. Despite the
decline, the number of apartment
units under construction is nearly
70 per cent higher than the average
number of 1,163 that were under
construction in 2010.
In the new homes market, there were
111 new, single-detached home sales
recorded in the HRM in November
at an average sale price of $369,390
(compared to 83 sales at an average
price of $374,931 in 2010). Inventory
in the new, single-detached market
declined in November as the number
of completed and not absorbed units
fell by 32 per cent to 32 units.
Year-to-date, there were 833 new,
single-detached home sales recorded
at an average sale price of $394,683
compared to 909 sales at an average
price of $356,195 in 2010. The strong
rate of price growth can be attributed
to continued demand for higher
priced homes throughout the HRM
as evidenced by over 54 per cent of
all new, single-detached homes selling
for over $350,000 compared to 40
per cent last year.

Existing Homes (MLS):
In the existing homes market,
there were 538 sales reported in
November compared to 403 last
year. Following a decline in sales in
October, November posted higher
sales in each submarket, with the
exception of Fall River – Beaverbank.
In Halifax City, sales increased over
50 per cent to 171 sales while sales in
Dartmouth City and Halifax County
East recorded increases of 49.5 and
41.2 per cent, respectively.
Supported by a strong November,
year-to-date sales in the HRM
reported an increase compared to
2010 for the first time this year as
5,579 sales were recorded. Despite
the increase, existing home sales
remain below the ten year,
year-to-date average of 5,954 sales.
At the submarket level, sales were mixed
with Dartmouth City seeing the most
growth at 4.2 per cent and Halifax
County Southwest seeing the largest
decline at 5.3 per cent. Existing home
sales in Halifax City increased 3.2
per cent to 1,431 year-to-date.
The average price of an existing home
in the HRM increased 3.4 per cent
in November to $258,159. Year-todate,
the average sale price increased
3.7 per cent to $259,338. The largest
increase was reported in the Sackville
submarket where prices climbed
nearly seven per cent to $204,756.
The highest average price continues to
be in the Bedford – Hammonds Plains
submarket at $342,459. In Halifax
City, the average price increased 4.6
per cent in the first eleven months of
the year to $305,167.
The inventory of existing homes in the
HRM declined by 2.6 per cent as of
November to 2,755. After 11 months
of the year, the average days on market
in the HRM stood at 94 days.