![\"canadian-home-construction\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/canadian-home-construction.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\nAs the pandemic sent home buyers flocking to suburban areas across Canada, home builders responded by boosting construction of detached homes.<\/p>\n
This detached home building surge sent the average number of housing starts recorded in 2020 to a three-year high at the national level, according to new analysis from BMO Economist Priscilla Thiagamoorthy.<\/p>\n
Data on housing starts, released monthly by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), measures how many homes began construction during a given period and are viewed as a key factor in determining market health.<\/p>\n\n
For the previous two years, housing starts in the single-family home property type had been declining, Thiagamoorthy wrote. That trend reversed last year, when all-time low mortgage rates and the unprecedented shift to widespread remote work set house hunters\u2019 sights on larger homes en masse.<\/p>\n
Although Canadian home construction slowed down in December, measuring 228,279 annualized units in the final month of the year, the six-month moving average for housing starts continued riding high. From June to December, housing starts averaged 239,052 annualized units, a 13-year high, according to Thiagamoorthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn spite of the pandemic-related plunge in the spring, housing has turned out to be one of the strongest sectors in 2020,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
However, there\u2019s reason to believe that the momentum that accelerated home construction activity in 2020 will wane in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile home construction has helped propel the recovery, we expect activity to moderate slightly in the year ahead amid slower population growth and still-soft labour market conditions,\u201d Thiagamoorthy wrote.<\/p>\n
As the pandemic sent home buyers flocking to suburban areas across Canada, home builders responded by boosting construction of detached homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":212656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-01-22T15:52:23Z","apple_news_api_id":"aa92c652-a98a-4ef1-b3c5-dd0b7832ba73","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2021-01-22T15:52:24Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AqpLGUqmKTvGzxd0LeDK6cw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/u48r14.digitalhub.com\/sections\/09b86915-7d2b-3acd-915b-b215002d01b7"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11108],"tags":[11132,11163,11198],"coauthors":[8652],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n