July 2014 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2014) - Housing starts in London, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 2,058 units in July compared to 1,766 in June, 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.

"Higher row home starts accounted for nearly all of the increase from June to July. We have also seen three consecutive months of solid apartment starts, which have not happened often in London. Strong growth of smaller one and two person households has led to greater demand for housing types that suit both their lifestyle and budget, such as new row and apartment homes," said Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC. "In addition, this year's late spring has been responsible for causing a delay of starts into the summer months. The six month starts trend moved up noticeably as a particularly low January starts number dropped out of the calculation. Year-to-date starts are about the same as last year's, implying that London has experienced a weather related shift," added Anthony.

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 3,003 units in July, up from 2,915 in June.

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.

(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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

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/961886E.pdf