P.E.I. housing boom just keeps getting louder

Investment in new housing on P.E.I. hit a new record in June, breaking $20 million for the fourth time in nine months.

According to Statistics Canada, with records going back to 1994, new housing investment passed $20 million for a month for the first time in September 2017. It rose above $21 million in October before slipping slightly in November.

In June it hit $22.3 million, which equalled the investment in Newfoundland and Labrador, a province with more than three times as many people.

Investment in June was 50 per cent higher than it was in June of 2017.

The first sign of P.E.I.'s housing boom was in early 2017. In the previous three years housing investment in the winter months had bottomed out at about $5 million a month. But the slowest month in 2017 was February at $7.7 million.

February has also been the slowest month so far in 2018, but it was 71 per cent higher than last year at $13.2 million. That's busier than any month in 2014 or 2015, and not much lower than the busiest month of 2016 (October $14 million).

A strong 1st half

Overall, investment is up 50.7 per cent in the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017.

All housing sectors are up in the first half, but apartment buildings are up the most by a wide margin.

• Single houses +32.5%
• Semi-detached houses + 54.6%
• Row +12.5%
• Apartments +220.4%

In the last few years new housing investment has peaked after June, but people in the construction industry have expressed concern about recruiting enough workers to keep up with demand.

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