Greater Victoria’s year-to-date housing starts are down 1% according to CMHC. From January to July, housing starts were 2,259 vs 2,273 during the same period last year.
The numbers were up 20% from January to May, but declined to a 5% increase from January to June.
The City of Victoria posted 365 starts (January to July 2024) vs 376 last year, mostly big multis. There is a decline despite their claims they are exceeding the province’s housing targets unless the target is less than last year. Read “Measure Housing Starts for Supply Targets.”
In Greater Victoria, there are 1,904 units from large multi-family projects, 167 single family and 188 townhomes, duplexes, etc. There has been a big shift to large multis due to high construction costs, government fees, taxes and regulations, and high interest rates. Monthly housing data will be skewed based on the timing/appearance of these large projects.
Most of the new housing is in Langford (924), representing 41% of all new housing in our region. They are followed by Saanich (399), Colwood (371), Sooke (80), View Royal (69), Esquimalt (18). Oak Bay has 15, Sidney 10, North Saanich 6. Sidney has seen a sharp decline since the new council was elected in 2022. Also doing poorly are the municipalities posting zero starts – Central Saanich, Highlands, and Metchosin.
Some municipalities are ratcheting up regulations and fees to obstruct the province’s legislation enabling up to 6 units on single family lots. Oak Bay recently approved a bylaw increasing the site setbacks and reducing the building height of missing middle housing vs the recommendations in the province’s site standards manual. This manual should be mandatory, not optional.