CALGARY - Housing starts in the Calgary census metropolitan area continue to plunge compared with year ago levels.

According to preliminary data released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., total housing starts in the Calgary region fell to 480 units in May, more than 1,000 units below the 1,488 units started in May 2008 — a nearly 68 per cent drop.

Year-to-date, housing starts in the Calgary CMA are down by nearly 79 per cent until the end of May compared with the same period in 2008, falling to 1,547 units from 7,240.

The decline in housing starts in May is most apparent in multi-family starts, which include semi-detached, row, and apartments. Only 98 multi-family units began construction in May 2009 compared to 1,013 units in May 2008, representing a 90.3 per cent decline.

“There were no apartment condominium starts last month whereas 796 units were started in May 2008,” said Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for the CMHC. “Calgary experienced elevated levels of highrise condominium starts during the first five months of 2008. Consequently future year-over-year multi-family comparisons will likely narrow in the months ahead.”

Year-to-date, there have been a total of 372 multi-family starts, down 93.1 per cent from activity in the first five months of 2008.

In the single-detached market, builders started 382 units in May 2009, down 19.6 per cent from a year earlier.

“In spite of being lower, May represented the highest level of monthly production this year and the second consecutive monthly increase,” said Louie. “New home sales are improving and are being supported by low mortgage rates and competitive pricing.”

After five months of production in 2009, single-detached starts have reached 1,175 units, down 37.4 per cent from the same period in 2008.

Housing starts across Alberta’s seven largest centres totalled 962 units in May, down 61.1 per cent from the 2,472 units started a year ago. A lower level of housing activity was generally reported across all of Alberta’s seven largest centres.