December push pulls 2009 out of historic house start hole
Phew, that was close! Were it not for a surge in housing starts in December, 2009 would have been remembered, or forgotten, as the worst year for starts in the Lower Mainland since 1962.
Now, if you remember the 1960s (frankly, if you do, you likely weren`t participating in them) 1962 was memorable because that was the year Johnny Carson debuted on The Tonight Show, Nelson Mandela was jailed, the Cuban Missile Crisis was headline news, and Telestar, the world`s first active communications satellite, was launched. The point is, 1962 was a very, very long time ago.
Fast forward to December. A total of 875 starts -- both detached and attached homes --were needed last month to surpass the 2000 total of 8,203, thereby avoiding that dreaded worst-since-`62 label. Honestly, I figured the chances of reaching 875 were slim. After all, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., only 793 starts were recorded in November, and December is somewhat of a wind-down month, what with the seasonal holidays and all.
Surprisingly, 1,010 starts were recorded in December, bringing the year-end total to 8,339. A statistical bullet might have been dodged, but no one is celebrating. The starts total lagged 11,252 behind the homes started in 2008. That means production and installation of kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, electrical, lumber, roofing, concrete, windows, doors, etc. were also greatly curtailed.
Each housing start creates nearly three person-years of employment, a fancy term for three full-time direct and indirect jobs for one year. Homebuilding is a huge economic generator for communities.
Read the full article
here.