http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/201...capital-of-na/
Montreal follows Toronto as new condo capital of NA
Three Canadian cities have emerged as the condo construction capitals of North America, with Toronto, not surprisingly, on top.
But Montreal is now the city with the second highest number of multi-family starts in North America, just ahead of Vancouver, data from RealNet Canada show.
Although multi-family starts also include residential apartment buildings in addition to condos, the construction of new rentals has been practically non-existent in Toronto and Montreal. The RealNet data is for the first three quarters of 2011.
Toronto, with around 22,000 starts, has almost double the amount of new construction as Montreal.
The Big Apple, in fourth place, is the American city with the highest number of multi-family starts.
The spectacular ranking of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver is more the result of a weak U.S. housing market than a sustained Canadian boom, RealNet president George Carras notes.
What’s not surprising if you live and breath real estate, is that the Canadian housing dominance shifts when you include single family homes to the mix.
Toronto, with the largest hew home market in North America, remains on top, followed by Houston and then Montreal. Vancouver, shifts to fifth place behind Dallas.
alampert@montrealgazette.com