May 2016 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 8, 2016) - Total housing starts in the London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended up from 1,739 units in April to 2,479 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.

"A large number of apartment starts in May caused the trend measure to increase. The vast majority of apartment starts typically occur in a few random months every calendar year in London. May happened to be one of those months this year. The apartment starts are intended for the rental market, as builders respond to a very low average vacancy rate in newer rental structures," 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 5,994 units in May, up from 2,154 units in April, primarily due to higher apartment starts. The monthly SAAR of single-detached and row home starts were also higher in May.

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/1058168e.pdf