Regina home builders started work on 88 housing units in April, down 25 per cent from 117 in April 2015, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Declines were seen in single-detached homes, which were down 24 per cent to 50 in April, and multiple-unit starts, which were down 26 per cent to 38 units last month, compared with the same period last year.

For the year to date, housing starts were down about 15 per cent, with 323 total starts to the end of April, compared with 381 during the first four months of 2015, CMHC said.  

However, housing starts in the Regina area were trending stable at 1,286 units in April, compared with 1,285 in March. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of total housing starts.

“The trend in total housing starts remained stable in April after an increasing trend in single-detached construction was countered by a declining trend in multi-unit production,” said Goodson Mwale, CMHC’s senior market analyst for Saskatchewan.

“The pace of Regina’s housing starts so far in 2016 continues to be constrained by weaker economic cond