Housing starts in Steinbach have been down for the past two years. There have been 44 starts of single and two-family homes in each of the last two years. That is much lower than the years 2005 to 2014 when they were usually well over the 100 mark.

Mayor Chris Goertzen believes housing construction will soon take off again.

"I think there's been some caution in the market the last couple of years. What we see when that happens is that the supply of housing goes down. When you talk to developers, when you talk to builders, you can certainly see that they are willing and ready to go in 2017. They do know that there's a need for additional housing. We've seen some significant plans progressing nicely so it's going to be a very good year in 2017 when it comes to housing."

Goertzen adds there is also a growing need for more apartments and other rental properties.

"There's a low vacancy rate here in the City of Steinbach and so we certainly would like to see that improved over the next year and see some projects in the multi-family sector take shape. Anecdotally, when you speak to project managers or you look at the listings of properties available for rent, it (the vacancy rate) is very low. We anticipate there will be a number of projects in 2017 that will add to the inventory of multi-family units because it's an important part of a growing city to have affordable places for people to rent and start their families."

He also says there is a good inventory of building lots in the various subdivisions in the city, including Hampton Village, Lexington Village and Parkhill Place.