Alberta’s residential market remained on strong footing two months into the year.

Following a 4.7% increase in January, housing starts in Alberta rose by 10.9% in February to 31,112 units (seasonally adjusted at an annual rate or SAAR).

The monthly increase was entirely due to a 40.2% rebound in single-detached homes while multi-unit construction eased by 3.5%.

Activity in the province remained robust relative to 2022 levels. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, housing starts were up by 5.5% in Alberta through the first two months of 2023.

Meanwhile, despite an encouraging February report, national housing starts were down by 4.2% YTD. This was mostly driven by weakness in Quebec (-32.3% YTD), which largely overshadowed gains in Ontario (+7.9% YTD) and British Columbia (+18.9%).

Answer to the previous trivia question: Thomas Savery is credited with designing the first industrial steam engine 1698.

Today’s trivia question: There were 38,470 housing starts in Alberta in 1981. How many were there three years later in 1984?