Toronto Housing Starts Decrease in November 2016

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended at 39,195 units in November 2016 compared to 39,689 in October 2016 according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

"Toronto's housing start trend declined slightly in November due to a slowdown in new apartment construction," said Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. "However, single-detached home starts picked up pace as limited resale listings for low-rise homes continue to cause demand to spill over into the new home market."

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 30,425 units in November, down from 48,035 units in October. The decrease was mainly a result of fewer apartment starts.

The City of Toronto recorded the highest number of starts within the Toronto CMA primarily due to higher apartment starts. Milton Township had the highest number of low rise starts followed by the City of Brampton, where a number of single-detached homes started construction.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca

Additional data is available upon request.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/e1079383.pdf