December 2012 Housing Starts in Windsor

LONDON, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 9, 2013) - Housing starts in the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 732 units in December, 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. The standalone monthly SAAR was 704 units in December, up from 652 in November.

"With employment trending higher in the past year, consumers were more confident in making home purchases, resulting in stronger demand for single-detached homes," said Margot Stevenson, CMHC's Market Analyst for Windsor.

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.

Construction began on 55 homes in December, down from the 80 units started in December 2011. Builders started 37 single-detached homes, down from 51 homes started a year ago. As well, eight semi-detached homes, six townhouses and 4 apartment units were started compared to 6 semi- detached homes and 23 townhouses reported in December of last year. Total starts in 2012, at 717 units, slipped marginally from the 719 units started in 2011. While single-detached starts increased, semi-detached, townhouse and apartment starts declined.

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.

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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca.

Additional data is available upon request.

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To view the tables and graph associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHC(EN)-Windsor.pdf.