Housing starts in the area are up significantly over last year.
CMHC Senior Market Analyst Musawer Muhtaj said the pandemic and supply issues certainly impacted housing starts in 2020, but things are picking back up.
"The total number of starts in the Sarnia area was 29 units in September 2021, 21 were single detached homes, eight were semi-detached," said Muhtaj. "So, if you compare that to September 2020, this year there was a much higher number of starts, a 123 per cent increase. The total number last September was 13".
Muhtaj said the Sarnia area has been experiencing an upward trend for several months.
"If we consider that immigration will be increasing and the economy will slowly be picking up over time, and we're slowly getting out of this pandemic, restrictions are loosening, things are a lot more mobile and we can expect there to be more demand."
Year to date totals locally are also higher. The first nine months of the year saw work start on 264 homes, compared to 222 during the same time periods last year.
The numbers include Sarnia, St. Clair Township and Point Edward.
