November 2014 Housing Starts in Ontario

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2014) - Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 54,602 units in November, down from 55,949 units in October, 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.

"The provincial trend in residential construction activity continued to ease in November largely due to declining activity in the apartment sector in the Toronto area. In fact, monthly activity grew elsewhere across the province with row and apartment construction gaining ground. The spill-over of affordable higher density construction into smaller urban centres over the past year is a product of modest job and income gains, stronger rental demand and low apartment inventories," said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC's Ontario Regional Economist.

The SAAR of total urban housing starts was 55,833 units in November, up from 50,338 units in October. Three quarters of Ontario urban centers posted increases in the latest month. For the year ending November, Ontario raw urban starts were five per cent below levels for the same period one year ago.

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.

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 advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

^[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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A table and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/982931e.pdf