By Don R. Campbell
In a surprise to no one announcement, we are witnessing an increase in housing starts again as the winter thaws and the construction industry gets back to work. In todays restrictive major-construction financing industry, large multi-family/condo style buildings cannot begin construction, or even confirm construction financing, without a large percentage of pre-sales collected. This means that while there seems to be a lot of new condo starts occurring in Ontario and BC, especially in the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver, the market has kept up with demand.The number of pre-sales demonstrates the truth of this.
This is also true for the more recent increase in the development of rental-only apartment buildings that have started in the last quarter. Without a proven demand for these starts, there would be no financing and with no financing, there would be no starts to count.
For the full article, see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/pace-of-housing-starts-gathers-momentum-in-february/article29068442/?cmpid=rss1
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