August 2014 Housing Starts in Toronto

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 9, 2014) - Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended lower at 30,093 units in August compared to 32,449 in July 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.

''A decrease in apartment starts lowered the total starts count in August, following elevated activity during the previous month. Such variations are a common occurrence in high rise construction and not suggestive of a long term trend. Most apartment starts occurred outside the downtown core, pointing to the rising popularity of high rise homes in suburban neighbourhoods," said Dana Senagama, CMHC's Toronto Senior Market Analyst.

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 stand alone monthly SAAR was 24,113 units in August, down from 38,405 units in July. The decrease was mainly attributed to lower starts in the multi-unit segment.

Markham recorded the highest number of starts in August mainly due to more apartment starts. Oakville recorded the second highest number of high rise starts. The City of Toronto had less starts activity, mainly due to fewer apartment starts.

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

This release is also available at www.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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/966911e2.pdf