One thousand new homes were built in Abbotsford last year – and even more look set to welcome new occupants in 2020.
Construction was completed on 1,021 homes in 2019, according to figures from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Although that figure is down from 2018, it’s still the second-highest yearly completed home total since CMHC began collecting totals for the amalgamated city in 1998.
Construction began on 1,435 homes in 2019, nearly double the previous year’s total. That suggests that 2020 will see an increase in the number of homes completed.
About two-thirds of the homes now under construction are apartment units. They comprised a little less than half of last year’s completed homes.
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A record number of townhouse units – 306– were completed in 2019. The last two years, the number of completed townhomes has exceeded completed single-family houses. That had never occurred in the two decades prior to 2018.
Last year’s construction has been a boon for the city’s supply of rental housing. Four hundred purpose-built rental units were completed in 2019. After decades of sporadic building of rental units, more than 1,000 purpose-built homes have been constructed over the last three years. Another 464 units were still under construction as of December.
Abbotsford has had one of Canada’s tightest rental markets in recent years. A new report expected this week will shed light on whether all the new building has put a dent in the city’s one per cent vacancy rate.
The CMHC will release its annual rental market report on Wednesday.
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