Ottawa Housing Starts Decline 14 Per Cent

This is a release from the City of Ottawa:

• A 14.1 percent decrease in housing starts year-over-year from 1,688 to 1,450 housing starts.
• All four dwelling types (single-detached, semi-detached, rowhouse, and apartment) experienced a decrease in starts year-over-year, with single detached starts down 2.9 percent, apartment starts down 18.7 percent, rowhouse starts down by 12.9 percent, and semi-detached starts down by 33.3 percent.
• Total construction permit value decreased by 19.5 percent year-over-year, with a 45.4 percent increase in residential permit value and a 26.6 percent decrease in non-residential permit value.
• The average housing resale price increased 6.0 percent from the previous quarter, while it increased 3.0 percent year-over-year.
• The office vacancy rate decreased 1.4 percentage point from Q2 2023 to reach 11.5 percent.
• The industrial vacancy rate increased 0.5 percentage points from Q2 2023 to reach 3.5 percent.
• The inflation rate increased 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and decreased 1.2 percentage points year-over-year to hit 2.6 percent in Q2 2024.
• The number of employed residents increased by 2.0 percent from Q2 2023 despite the unemployment rate having increased by 1.1 percentage points.