November 2012 Housing Starts in Kitchener

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 10, 2012) - Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1970 units in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)¹of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 950 units in November, down from 1,380 in October.

"With employment trending lower since the first quarter of 2012, many consumers have put their home purchases on hold, impacting the sale of single-detached homes and resulting in lower starts. Demand for the more affordable semi-detached homes and townhomes has remained stronger. Although fewer apartments have been started in the second half of the year, apartment construction still represents more than half of starts this year and close to three-quarters of all units under construction. With an increase in couples without children, lone-parent families and one-person households, there is more demand for smaller, more affordable homes such as townhomes and apartments," said Erica McLerie, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo.

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.

New home construction declined in November compared to October. Construction began on 71 homes in November, down from the 282 units started in November 2011. Builders started 41 single-detached homes, down from the 71 homes started a year ago. Townhouse starts declined to 24 units, while no apartment units were started in November 2012 compared to 172 units in November 2011. Due to the decline in single-detached and apartment construction, housing starts in the first eleven months of 2012 are lower than starts in the same period of 2011.

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.

Additional data is available upon request.

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¹Census Metropolitan Area