December 2013 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2014) - Housing starts in London, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 2,216 units in December compared to 1,871 in November 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.

"Apartment and row home starts were particularly strong in December contributing to a total of nine per cent more starts in the fourth quarter of 2013 than the same period a year prior. Annual starts in 2013 were three percent lower than in 2012. It was the year of the row home in London with 55 per cent more row homes started in 2013 as compared to 2012. This was a City of London story where the relative affordability of row homes contributed to making them an attractive option for new home buyers." said Alexander Bonnyman, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for London.

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 SAAR of total starts was 3,639 units in December, up from 1,538 in November.

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.

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(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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A graph and tables are available at the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/920999e.pdf.