London-St. Thomas housing industry poised to beat 2006 record
With 1,948 housing starts in first six months of year, London-St. Thomas housing industry poised to beat 2006 record
London Free Press (Hank Daniszewski)/July 11 – Builders are running out of homes to sell and running short of workers to build them as home starts in the London area are on a record-setting pace.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) reported Tuesday there were 1,948 housing starts in London-St. Thomas in the first six months of 2017.
If that pace is maintained, the housing industry could beat the record of 3,674 starts set in 2006. In the first half of that year there were 1,718 starts.
Doug Wastell of Wastell Homes got an inkling in February that 2017 wasn’t going to be an ordinary year when he sold out his supply of available homes in his projects on Tennant Avenue, and another near Richmond Street and Sunningdale Road. He is looking forward to his next project.
“The real boom came in April and May. Some builders were closing their model homes because they were overwhelmed. It seemed like pandemonium,” said Wastell, a past-president of the London Home Builders’ Association.
Association president Peter Madsen said builders are working hard to keep up with demand.
“There was a ton of sales at the beginning of the year and now those houses are getting built.”
The new home market is benefiting from a surging resale market in the London-St. Thomas area with sales records tumbling six months in a row and total sales up 23 per cent this year, he said.
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