December 2016 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 10, 2017) - The housing starts trend measure for London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was 3,115 units in December, down from 3,584 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.

"The trend measure for total starts continued to decrease from the unusually high level reached earlier this year, when the bulk of apartment starts occurred. Total apartment starts in 2016 were more than double 2015 apartment starts, and were the highest since 1989. Approximately two of every three apartment starts in 2016 were intended for the rental market, as builders responded to low vacancy rates. Strong apartment and single-detached starts helped to push total housing starts above 3,000 units for the first time in nearly a decade," said Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC.

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 monthly SAAR of total starts was 2,691 units in December, up slightly from 2,654 units in November. Actual total starts in 2016 were 3,116 units, up significantly from 2,104 units in 2015, due to higher apartment and single-detached 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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/London_En.pdf