June 2016 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 4,562 units in June compared to 4,442 units in May 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 activity trended slightly up in June mostly due to a strengthening in row starts and a modest rise in single-detached home starts. Row starts activity has been on an upward trajectory since February while the starts of the other housing types have trended down," said Anne-Marie Shaker, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Ottawa. "New rows are relatively more affordable than singles and high-rise condominiums, and are relatively more spacious than the latter making them a popular housing type."

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 5,723 in June, down from 5,987 in May. All low-rise dwelling types were up, but came in short of offsetting the strong decline in 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.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1062117a.pdf