Mortgage lobby group says Canadian housing starts will plunge 25-30 per cent by 2015

TORONTO – The Canadian Association of Mortgage Professionals is warning that new-home construction will drop dramatically within the next two years, resulting in a loss of about 80,000 construction and related jobs by mid-2015.

The association says the housing industry has begun to show the impact from the federal government’s decision to tighten rules for mortgage loans and it projects the trend will continue.

It projects the level of housing starts dropping to about 150,000 units nationally by late next year — a 25 per cent decline from the 2011-2012 average of 205,000.

CAAMP predicts the Toronto area faces an especially big slowdown, with the number of housing starts falling by about 20,000 to 22,000 units — less than half the 45,500 units started in each of 2011 and 2012.

The association bases its estimates on a number of sources, including an online survey of about 2,000 Canadian homeowners and renters that was conducted in April by Maritz.