It was 5:56 p.m. when 911 was informed about the fire, occurring at the eastern end of Laval, in Saint-François.

As of 6:03 p.m., when the first of the six units of the Fire and Safety Department of Laval required for the intervention arrived, the flashover was already generalized for the residential building mainly affected.

Risks of spread

Flames were beginning to seriously threaten the two adjacent houses, which is why the sappers devoted most of their efforts to containing the fire, and preventing it from spreading further to those neighbouring structures, after ensuring the places had been evacuated by its occupants.

The firefighters carried out their mission successfully, and at 8 p.m., the fire was considered fully under control.

Let’s note that one of the firefighters was slightly injured a finger during the mission.

If the house is a total loss, with damage assessed at approximately $219,000 for the building, and $60,000 for its contents.

The two neighbouring addresses will have suffered damage estimated, respectively, at approximately $35,000 and $15,000.

translated by Alec Brideau

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As of July 31, the foundations of 1,508 housing units had been sunk into Laval soil, up 13 per cent compared to the 1,334 housing units started during the same period last year.

The city-region stands out from the four other geographic sectors of the greater metropolitan area, which are 21 per cent behind the housing starts recorded a year earlier. Montreal, the North Shore and the South Shore, as well as Vaudreuil-Soulanges – for its portion included in the territory of Montreal’s Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) – totaled 14,711 dwellings, compared to the 18,597 registered at the end July.

Here are some data released this week by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Dominant Rental Market

The rental market dominates with 82 per cent of the new housing in Laval in 2022. In absolute numbers, we’re talking about 1,240 of the 1,508 units registered during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

Month to Forget

If Laval’s market has dominated the greater metropolitan area since the beginning of the year, it was quite the opposite last month.

In July, Laval only saw 35 new housing units getting started, which is five times less than the 161 started on the same date last year. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Montreal’s CMA, the CMHC identified 2,074 construction sites compared to 2,449 in July 2021, representing a 15 per cent drop of the activity level.

Let’s remind that in 2021, Laval saw its housing stock grow by 2,270 new homes, built or started.

translated by Alec Brideau

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It was 5:49 p.m. when 911 was told a fire had just broken out in the sector of Sainte-Dorothée, located just south of boulevard Notre-Dame.

When arriving on the scene 5 minutes later, the first of the twenty firefighters called quickly spotted the apparent flames at the back of this two-storey residential building.

While completing the evacuation of the house, firefighters began an aggressive attack on the fire, which had spread from the exterior wall of the first floor to the roof.

Luckily, the smoke alarm was functional, while the assistance of the Service de police de Laval (SPL) and Urgences-santé was requested as a precautionary measure.

Firefighters finally took control of the fire at 6:53 p.m., after having tried to protect the property as much as possible.

The fire nevertheless resulted in damages estimated at $250,000 for the house, and $50,000 for its content.

translated by Alec Brideau

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Compared to the first quarter last year, housing starts have more than tripled, going from 241 to 814.

That’s what comes out from the data compiled by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The rental market takes the biggest part, with 80 per cent of houses under construction, which is 668 new homes. The percentage rises to 96 per cent when we’re adding the condominium’s niche and its 114 units under construction. That leaves us with two market segments, which are single-family residences (21) and semi-detached and row houses (11).

Clear Domination

While the market was getting hot in Laval, Montreal’s census metropolitan area (CMA) saw its housing starts drop by 37 per cent.

On March 31, we could count 5,057 housing units under construction, a shortfall of more than 3,000 units compared to the same period last year. Had it not been for Laval’s performance, the decline observed in Montreal’s CMA would be around 50 per cent.

Laval has quintupled its weight in the metropolitan balance for this first quarter. In 2021, the city-region had seen 241 new housing units, counting for three per cent of the 8,080 units started on the whole territory of the CMA, while this time its 814 houses are counting for 16 per cent of the 5,057 housing starts identified by the CMHC.

Last December 31, Laval concluded the year with 2,270 new constructions, which represented a 20 per cent drop compared to its activity level of 2020.

translated by Alec Brideau

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