April Housing Starts Lower in Kitchener

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released April preliminary housing starts data for the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area(1) (CMA) today. Construction began on 174 homes, down from the 390 units started in the same month last year.

Builders poured foundations for 130 single-detached homes in April, down slightly from the 142 units started in April 2010. While semi-detached home starts remained unchanged, townhome starts declined to 22 units from 34 units last April. Apartment construction weakened significantly, dropping to only 14 units from the 206 units started a year ago. Starts were higher in Cambridge and Woolwich only. For the first four months of 2011, housing starts declined to 649 units, from the 964 units started in the same period of 2010. All housing types contributed to the decline.

To view the graph included with this release, please visit the following link:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/table88.pdf

"While demand for single-detached homes has remained strong, starts for the other types of housing have fallen significantly this year. With more than 1,200 townhome and apartment units currently under construction, builders are finishing some of these projects before starting new ones," said Erica McLerie, Senior Market Analyst for the Kitchener CMA. "Lower sales in the last half of 2010 have translated into the lower starts in 2011," added McLerie.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high 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 informed decisions.

To view the table included with this release, please visit the following link:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/table22.pdf

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

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(1)Statistics 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.