New housing starts in Regina for 2018 are down by 41 per cent to 1,139 units compared to 2017, according to a report released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
In 2017, Regina saw 1,923 new housing starts. Saskatchewan as a whole is down 28 per cent to 2,982 new housing starts.
Of those housing starts in Regina, 50 per cent are rental properties, 46 per cent is for homeowners and five per cent are condos.
Vacancy rates are at 7.7 per cent in 2018, slightly up from seven per cent in 2017.
The Regina and Regional Home Builders’ Association said in a Facebook post that the downslide is the perfect storm of bad public policy from all three levels of government from the mortgage and stress test regulations to changes in PST on construction to increasing fees and regulations for construction.
The home builders’ association estimates that the residential construction industry has laid off over 1,600 jobs between 2016 and 2018.
