A busy month of construction in Kelowna has the city’s year-to-date housing starts back towards 2017’s record pace.

A total of 319 homes or units, fueled by 189 apartment units and 72 single-detached homes, which is far lower than the 466 housing starts seen in May of 2017.

Photo Credit: CMHC

On a year-to-date basis, 2018 is trailing 2017 as well with 986 housing starts in the first five months compared to last year’s 1,644.

“The trend measure for housing starts in the Kelowna (census metropolitan area) moved upward in May for a second consecutive month following a slower start in the first three months of 2018,” said Taylor Pardy, CMHC’s senior market analyst.

“Recovery in the pace of housing starts has been largely driven by some large multi-unit projects getting underway in April and May bringing the pace of housing starts more in line with projections for 2018.”

Photo Credit: KelownaNow

One area where 2018 is trumping 2017 is housing completions, with 317 in May for a year-to-date total of 1,055.

In 2017, there were only 83 housing completions in May to bring the year-to-date total to just 414.

Nationwide, housing starts were slightly down from April to May after several months of stability, bringing them closer to their 10-year average after several months of historically elevated levels.