February 2016 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 5,254 units in February compared to 5,566 units 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.

"Housing starts trended lower in February for all dwelling types following a slight uptick in January activity," said Anne-Marie Shaker, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Ottawa. "The trend in starts has been fairly flat over the last six months with a few spikes in activity mirroring tepid demand conditions for new homes amid weak growth in economic fundamentals such as employment and income."

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 3,135 in February down from 4,818 in January mostly due to a decline in apartment starts which more than offset the rise in row starts this month. Condominium apartment monthly starts have had significant variation but the general trend is down from previous years.

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/1045979a.pdf