April Housing Starts Higher in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Preliminary data for April 2011 released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for the St.Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area¹ (CMA) show a 52 per cent increase in total housing starts from April 2010. This month's increase follows three consecutive months of decline in the first quarter of 2011.

Total starts for St.Catharines-Niagara CMA in April increased to 100 units compared to 66 units at same time last year. The increase in total starts is due to more town-homes and apartments. The number of town-homes starts more than tripled this month compared to last year. From January to April 2010, there were a total of three apartment starts in Niagara Region. This year, there are 27 apartments starts year-to-date.

"Although there has been an increase in town-home and apartment starts in April, total starts are down 18 per cent year-to-date for Niagara Region," said Anthony Adrien, Market Analyst with CMHC. "The resale market has cooled down, limiting any spill over of demand to the new home market. Slow population growth, particularly of the first time buyer age group, is another limiting factor," added Adrien.

To view the graph associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/F1-SCNE.pdf

To view the table associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/F2-SCNE.pdf

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. 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 vital decisions.

For more information, please visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1-800-668-2642.

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¹Statistics Canada defines a census metropolitan area (CMA) as one or more adjacent municipalities integrated with an urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more must live in the urban core.