December 2015 Housing Starts in Ottawa

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 5,517 units in December compared to 6,141 units 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) of housing starts.

"Housing starts trended lower in December compared to the previous month driven by lower apartment home starts. A high level of completed and unsold condominium apartment units prompted builders to lower their inventories under construction by reducing starts for this dwelling type," said Jean-Sébastien Michel, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for Ottawa. "For the same reason, total actual housing starts for 2015 were at 4,972 units, almost 14% lower than in 2014, as employment remained soft throughout the year."

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.

In Ottawa, the monthly SAAR measure was 5,184 in December down from 8,084 in November due mainly to a drop in apartment housing starts.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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/1038942e.pdf