April 2013 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 8, 2013) - Housing starts in Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 4,795 units in April compared to 4,334 units 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.

"Following robust March building activity, seasonally adjusted housing starts strengthened once more in April. Condominium apartment starts led the growth for the second straight month this year, while single-detached home construction continued to moderate and move into the outskirts of the city," said Sandra Perez Torres, Senior Market Analyst for Eastern and Northern Ontario. "A multitude of factors such as affordability, buyer preferences and demographics, together with city intensification efforts are driving high-density development closer to the core," added Perez Torres.

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, 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 multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes. In Ottawa, the standalone monthly SAAR was 6,199 units in April up from 5,106 units in March.

In April, single starts continued to dominate suburban construction, whereby Gloucester outside the Greenbelt, Kanata, Goulbourn and Nepean outside Greenbelt in that order secured just over 80 per cent of all construction. Row starts mimicked this trend with Kanata and Gloucester outside the Greenbelt capturing close to half of all row starts. Condominium apartment construction was concentrated in the city core, which captured 96 per cent of all construction; the remaining apartments broke ground in Cumberland.

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 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.

Additional data is available upon request.

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To view the graph and tables associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/872216EN_LINK1.pdf.