April 2013 Housing Starts in Canada

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 8, 2013) - Housing starts in Canada were trending at 182,754 units in April compared to 188,369 in March, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)¹ of housing starts.

"As expected, the trend in total housing starts continued to moderate in April. As a result, it drew closer to its historical average and is in-line with estimates of household formation. Recent moderation in total housing starts has been led by the multiple starts segment, particularly in Ontario," said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC.

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 more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations analyzing 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 volatile from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 174,858 units in April, down from 181,146 in March. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 2.5 per cent in April to 153,528 units, led by a 3.5 per cent decline in multiple urban starts to 93,469 units. Single urban starts remained relatively unchanged from March at 60,059 units in April.

April's seasonally adjusted annual rates of urban starts decreased in Atlantic Canada (-40.8 per cent), Ontario (-14.9 per cent) and British Columbia (-5.6 per cent). Urban starts increased in Quebec (14.8 per cent) and the Prairies (9.3 per cent).

Rural starts² were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,330 units in April.

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

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

² CMHC estimates the level of starts in centres with a population of less than 10,000 for each of the three months of the quarter, at the beginning of each quarter. During the last month of the quarter, CMHC conducts the survey in these centres and revises the estimate.

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca.

Additional data is available upon request.

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A graph is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/0508CMHC_EN.pdf

Preliminary Housing Start Data
April 2013
			March 2013	April 2013
Trend1, all areas			188,369	182,754
SAAR, all areas			181,146	174,858
	SAAR, rural areas		23,715	21,330
	SAAR, urban centres2
		Single-Detached	60,586	60,059
		Multiples	96,845	93,469
		Total	157,431	153,528
		Atlantic, urban centres2	7,524	4,457
		Quebec, urban centres2	28,688	32,935
		Ontario, urban centres2	52,700	44,874
		Prairies, urban centres2	44,155	48,253
		British Columbia, urban centres2	24,364	23,009
Canada			April 2012	April 2013
Actual, all areas			21,749	15,390
	Actual, rural areas		1,906	2,163
	Actual, urban centres2
		April - Single-Detached	6,385	5,276
		April - Multiples	13,458	7,951
		April - Total	19,843	13,227
		January to April - Single-Detached	17,751	15,909
		January to April - Multiples	39,772	28,576
		January to April - Total	57,523	44,485

Source: CMHC

1 The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR).

2 Urban centres with a population of 10,000 and over.

Detailed data available upon request