February 2016 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 1,739 units in February compared to 2,122 in January, 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 in total housing starts declined mainly due to a sharp decline in the trend for apartment starts. An uptick in the trends for starts of singles and rows didn't offset the decline in the trend for apartments. Contrary to the overall trend, the trend in single-detached starts increased for a third consecutive month, reaching its highest level in more than three years. Tight resale market conditions have boosted the demand for new single-detached and row housing," 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 1,740 units in February, down from 2,025 in January due to lower single-detached and no apartment 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.

(Ce document existe également en français)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHC_1045936_ENG.pdf