After decreasing in June, the number of seasonally adjusted housing starts* in Alberta increased by 6.7% in July.

Also encouraging is the fact that the average number of starts over the first seven months of 2021 is the highest it has been since 2015.

Year-to-date starts were 41.9% higher than over the same period last year and 24.8% higher than in 2019.

Starts in Calgary jumped by 23.8% in July, but pulled back by 8.7% in Edmonton.

Despite the monthly decline in Edmonton, starts were well above both 2020 (14.6%) and 2019 (14.5%) on a year-to-date basis. In Calgary, starts were 73.4% higher during the first seven months of 2021 than over the same period in 2020 and 53.6% higher than in 2019.

Nationally, housing starts declined by 3.2% in July but were 41.2% higher on a year-to-date basis compared to 2020.

*A housing start is defined as the beginning of construction work on a building, usually when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure, or an equivalent stage where a basement will not be part of the structure.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The official national currency of Denmark is called the krone.

Today’s trivia question: What year was the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (nee Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation) created?