There was good news for the homebuilding industry and the housing markets in the Calgary and Edmonton regions in February.

Data released Monday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that housing starts in the single-detached markets for those cities soared during the month compared to year-ago levels.

In the Calgary census metropolitan area, single-detached starts of 298 were 44 per cent higher than a year ago. However, they fell by 12 per cent to 348 units in the “all others” category which includes condos. Overall, housing starts in the Calgary CMA were up seven per cent year-over-year.

In the Edmonton census metropolitan area, single-detached starts of 324 rose by 47 per cent from last year while the “all others” category fell by 23 per centto 296 units. Overall, housing starts in the Edmonton CMA were up three per cent year-over-year.

Nationally, the CMHC said the trend in housing starts was 208,525 units in February, compared to 211,153 units in January 2020. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts, said the federal agency.

“The national trend in housing starts declined in February, driven by lower-trending multi-unit starts.” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, in a news release. 

“Single and multi-unit starts in Toronto both trended lower, while activity in Montréal declined due to lower-trending multi-unit starts. This offset a slight up-tick in Vancouver, which follows four consecutive declines in that CMA.”

CMHC said it uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of Canada’s housing market. The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 210,069 units in February, a decrease of 1.9 per cent from 214,031 units in January, said the CMHC. The SAAR of urban starts also decreased by 1.9 per cent in February to 199,304 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 6.1 per cent to 146,072 units in February while single-detached urban starts increased by 11.9 per cent to 53,232 units.

“Homebuilding continues to hum along at a healthy pace, supported by rising home prices, low interest rates, programs incenting rental construction and, most importantly, strong population growth. This is helping underpin gains in residential investment at a time when other parts of the economy are suffering from an array of headwinds. And, strong permit issuance in January (even outside of B.C.’s outsized gain), points to this healthy pace being retained in the near-term,” said Rishi Sondhi, an economist with TD Economics.

“Currently, we are expecting starts to hold above a 200k unit pace through next year. However, this depends on the evolution of the novel coronavirus, which alongside the recent plunge in oil prices, places downside risk to this view.”

After a slowdown at the end of 2019, Canada’s housing starts were on a stronger footing this year, said Priscilla Thiagamoorthy, an economist with BMO Economics.

“Still, that’s all in the rear-view mirror at this point. The plunge in oil prices combined with the COVID-19 impact could provide the perfect storm for a nearly stalled economy already facing structural headwinds,” she said.