Kelowna housing construction decreased in 2018, while other Interior cities see new apartment boom

The City of Kamloops saw a boom in construction last year, almost doubling the number of new housing starts compared to 2017, according to data released from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Vernon and Penticton also saw increases in housing starts, with a strong jump in the apartment sector.

Kamloops had 1,220 housing starts in 2018 compared to 658 in 2017. The increase comes largely from the apartment sector which saw 785 new start apartments over 163 in 2017. 

Following a record year in 2017, Kelowna saw housing starts drop 29 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year, with 2,555 in 2018 down from 3,577 in 2017.

The City of Vernon saw 448 new housing starts in 2018 over 398 in 2017, a 13 per cent increase. Apartments accounted for 154 of new housing starts in Vernon, almost doubling the number from 2017.

Penticton saw an eight per cent increase in housing starts at 602 in 2018 over 559 in 2017. While the number of new start single-detached homes in Penticton remained largely unchanged, new start apartments increased by 34 per cent, jumping from 243 in 2017 to 326 in 2018.

Nationwide the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts new housing starts dropped 5.8 per cent in December 2018 over November 2018.

According to the CMHC new starts across British Columbia dropped by two per cent in 2018 over 2017.

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