2013 continues to be a productive year for housing starts in Thunder Bay. Government statistics show that so far this year the number of housing starts is up 40 per cent compared to 2012. But Warren Philp of Canada Mortgage and Housing expects that will even itself out by the end of the year because starts of multi-family housing units surged in the final months of last year. Meantime there was a 25 per cent drop in the number of September starts this year compared to 2012.