There have been better years but home building has rebounded from a sluggish 2009, third-quarter numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation are showing.
As of the end of September, there have been 124 starts on single family homes year to date, well up from 73 by the same point last year, and about on par with the total reached by the ninth month of 2008.
The boom times of 2005 and 2007 had delivered three-quarter totals of 283 and 239 starts respectively but activity is now back on par with the 10-year average, CMHC market analyst Sarena Teakles said Friday.
Teakles is expecting the pace to slow slightly in the months ahead due largely to a softening in the resale market.
"The number of listings are starting to climb slightly," she said. "I wouldn't say it's down into a buyers' market but it's definitely softened within that balanced market range.
"For probably close to the past year, Prince George has been on the upper edge of a balanced market where you've had a little bit more of demand from the buyers' sector."
On the multiple-family side, there have been starts on 44 units to date, compared to 30 by the same point last year.
Looking exclusively at September, there were starts on 18 single-family homes, which was twice as many as there were over the same month last year, and 14 units of multiple family, way up from just two in September 2009.
