OTTAWA -- Housing starts were up in most parts of the country outside the Atlantic Provinces in December, according to a report released Monday by the Conference Board of Canada.

The report on metropolitan housing starts report showed a year-over-year increase in 17 of the 27 areas studied.

Some of the biggest jumps were in London, Ont., where starts went from 826 in December 2008 to 3,259 in 2009; Saskatoon, which went from 916 to 2,285; Edmonton, where starts took a year-over-year leap from 4,990 to 12,539; and Victoria, where work began on 1,666 houses in December, 2009, compared to 486 in the same month in 2008.

The short-term expectation for Ottawa’s housing market changed to positive from a negative ranking in November -- joining 11 other cities, from Halifax to Abbotsford, B.C., where both short-term and long-term prospects for housing starts look good. Short-term expectations are based on residential permits data, while long-term outlooks are based on demographic requirements.

The board notes that short-term prospects are less positive in Sudbury, Ont., Toronto, Hamilton, Ont., Winnipeg and Vancouver, while Quebec, Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, Que., Sherbrooke, Que., and Ottawa-Gatineau are expected to fare less well in the long-term.

There are five cities where housing starts are not expected to grow significantly in either the short or the long term: St. John’s, N.L., Saint John, N.B., Saguenay, Que., Kingston, Ont., and Thunder Bay, Ont